Billboards bring up long-standing question: Creationism or evolution?

Within the past several weeks, three of these billboards have been erected on major roads entering, or a few miles outside of, town. Having taught college-level evolutionary biology for some 30 years, they peaked my interest and I called the listed number. Several statements in the short but informative recorded message caught my attention: "One must embrace the truth of Creation or altogether throw out the Bible and the God of the Bible … What does man become without belief in a Creator God to whom he is accountable? He degenerates into moral depravity, violence and lewdness." Strong stuff. For further information, I was directed to Gospelbillboards.org. Christian Aid Ministries initiated its Gospel Billboards program (which its website notes is funded solely by donations from its supporters) in 2006 "with a vision of pointing America to Christ." Only two of the 18 types of billboards currently in use directly concern Creation/Evolution. The others offer messages of warning and hope addressing Jesus, the Bible, Eternity/Judgement, Morality, Despair/Depression and Kingdom Living. The site I visited indicated that some 645 messages have been posted along interstates, major highways and several malls in all 50 states. Given the recent activity around our small town, I suspect that by now this may represent a significant underestimate. All of the biology courses I taught before retiring — from introductory through advanced classes like ecology, animal behavior, ichthyology and evolutionary biology — had been based on evidence compiled in the 160 years since Darwin published "On the Origin of Species" in 1859. So I was pretty interested in exploring the website's link leading to "Evidence for Creation." The 13-and-a-half-minute audio (gospelbillboards.org/evidence-for-creation/) makes for interesting listening. Here's a few quotes: "… Either all things have developed by natural observable processes operating in the world presently, or they have been created by an infinitely powerful and all-wise God. There are ultimately no other alternatives." "… This earth as well as the whole universe is not in chaos. It operates in orderly patterns and is controlled and directed by laws. Who made these laws? We know that every building must have a builder. Therefore, we know the universe, the greatest building of all, had to have had an omnipotent builder." "… To believe that such incredibly complex functions and traits of these creatures result from genetic accidents and gradual evolution is unbelievable." "… The geological record of fossils does not reveal a progression of development from the simple to the complex … Not one change of a species into another is on record … The fact is that transitional forms are non-existent in the fossil record." "… Those who are unwilling to believe the truth may spend a lifetime in research laboratories attempting to document their erroneous persuasions, but to no avail." What interests me here isn't so much the veracity of these statements as how they underscore the whopping chasm separating the creationist's understanding of the world from that of the evolutionary biologist. Biological Abstracts is a database keeping track of peer-reviewed articles published in the life sciences and biomedical research literature. Plugging the word "evolution" into the topic category of its search engine for 2018 revealed 11,878 articles with an evolutionary theme published for just that one year. Plugging in "evidence for evolution" for the same year returned one article titled, "Clustering of pan- and core-genome of lactobacillus provides novel evolutionary insights for differentiation." The search engine found that paper because its abstract (brief summary) stated, "Our data provided evidence for evolution of some lactobacilli according to a parapatric-like model for species differentiation." Biological journals don't publish research papers on the reality of evolution because it hasn't been a scientific issue for decades. Professional biologists rely on a firm understanding of evolutionary processes as a tool in addressing their work-a-day research problems. For a bacteriologist to wonder if natural selection played a role in the development of certain known strains of Staphylococcus (a normally harmless skin bacteria) into dangerous MRSA varieties resistant to a raft of common antibiotics, would make as much sense to her as it would for a carpenter to question whether the reciprocating saw in his hands was the thing that had just taken out a wall. Two differing world views to say the least. So, what's happening in the classroom? Ann Reid, director of the National Center for Science Education (https://ncse.ngo), the country's principal organization devoted to the accurate teaching of evolution (and climate change) in schools observes that about 60% of U.S. public high school biology teachers are hedging, equivocating or avoiding altogether the topic of teaching evolution. The NCSE is working on three fronts in its efforts to ensure every student receives an effective education about evolution and climate change: by supporting teachers, catalyzing action wherever the teaching of science is under attack, and breaking down barriers by bringing graduate students and other science fans into schools in a way that's "friendly, respectful and inclusive." For truth, say the signs. Ken Baker is a scientist and a retired biology professor. If you have a natural history topic you'd like the author to consider for an upcoming column, email your idea to newsroom@advertiser-tribune.com.