Beyond Darwin and Genesis: Toward a Myth of the Beginnings of Life for the 21st Century

Scientists have convinced all reasonable people that the Earth is a globe circling the sun, that microbes can cause illness, that matter can be converted into energy, and that sheep can be cloned. Why, then, have scientists failed to convince so many thoughtful people that the first living thing and all subsequent species evolved by neo-Darwinian processes? Experts tend to shrink this problem into a simplistic either/or choice: Accept the theory of evolution by natural selection, or practice religion and believe that God created the universe and life in six days as Genesis says! These authors stress that only two answers can exist; one scientific, the other religious. What's more, for them the only acceptable scientific theory is the intrinsically unalterable, 150-year old view of the brilliant naturalist Charles Darwin, who knew nothing about biochemistry, molecular biology and cell biology. Peter Hertli proposes that we breach the constraining and false either/or dichotomy. He invites us to look at the history of living things in terms of three myths, or generally accepted explanations of mysterious events. They may be in the form of sacred scriptures like Genesis, or based on the pronouncements of a venerable authority, repeated and elaborated on as in the case of Darwin's evolution by natural selection. These two myths are based on miracles, or violations of natural laws. Peter Hertli offers a third myth of life's appearance and proliferation that dispenses with violations of natural laws. The author will lead you through the three myths, offering three guiding principles for this adventure: Rule 1: No irreverence toward anyone's religious convictions. Rule 2: Review neo-Darwinism, first uncritically, then critically. We will find countless instances of unacceptably low probabilities of events needed to make evolution by natural selection a scientifically plausible explanation. Rule 3: Agree to take a daring excursion into terra incognito, where quantum mechanics is part of the evolutionary process.