He then described the fact that in the rocks of the so-called Cambrian Period there exist billions of fossils of highly complex invertebrates, pointing out that no one has ever found fossilized ancestors to even a single one of the Cambrian invertebrates, nor have any transitional forms ever been found linking these creatures to each other or to a common ancestor. On the other hand, if creation is true, each created kind would appear fully formed. Gish responded that since according to evolution, millions of species have evolved during hundreds of millions of years, this would have produced a vast number of transitional forms. He then asserted that many transitional forms are known, such as the mammal-like reptiles and the evolution of the mesonycids into whales. He described the fact that the fossil record is very incomplete, having many gaps due to episodic deposition and erosion and because evolution very often occurs rapidly in small populations. He said that radio metric dating methods supply the dates for the various periods. In the period assigned to the fossil record, Max claimed that the order of appearance of fossilized creatures in the geological column is in perfect agreement with evolutionary theory. Even if such were available, Gish asserted that there would be absolutely no tendency for these molecules to arrange themselves into the complex machinery of a living cell. He then illustrated what he asserted was the physical impossibility, based upon the laws of probability, of a naturalistic evolutionary origin of a protein molecule, such as an enzyme, from a random mixture of amino acids in the hypothetical primitive ocean. Gish described the Big Bang theory on the origin of the universe. Furthermore, a no-God postulate is just as religious as the position that involves God. Evolution and creation are inferences based upon circumstantial evidence. He asserted that evolution is no more scientific or less religious than creation. In his initial statement, Gish pointed out that the basic issue being debated is the theistic, supernatural, special creation of the universe and living organisms versus the non-theistic, naturalistic, mechanistic evolutionary view of origins. He challenged several of the arguments by ICR scientists that indicate a young age for the earth. He then presented a few arguments for an old universe and old earth, including the time required for light to reach the earth from distant stars and results of radiometric dating. In his opening statement Max asserted that creation science is pseudo-science, akin to snake oil and a flat-earth belief, and that his own position embodied five principles: (1) differences in individuals are due to differences in genes (2) natural selection results in changes in gene frequencies (3) changes in gene frequencies may be due to changes in the environment (4) adaptive radiation may occur due to the "founder" principle and (5) evolution into many new kinds, such as the evolution of small mammals into a great variety of marsupial and placental mammals, has occurred. The subjects chosen by Max for the four periods were (1) the fossil record, (2) random mutation, selection, and probability, (3) thermodynamics, and (4) homology. To gain every advantage, Max chose to go first with each period except for the closing statements, where he chose to go last. As he desired, the debate consisted of an initial statement of 18 minutes by each side, followed by four 15-minute periods by each side on subjects Max selected and a 5-minute closing statement. degrees at the University of Pennsylvania. The debaters were evolutionist Edward Max and Duane Gish. Approximately 2000 people were in attendance. The debate described in this report took place on the evening of March 4, 1996, in the Civic Center Auditorium in Amarillo, Texas. The accounts of these debates have been described in Acts & Facts for almost 25 years now, but it was suggested that a detailed description of one of the recent debates might be of interest and also informative as to the types of arguments in these debates.
Since that time over 300 debates between ICR scientists and evolutionists have been conducted, as well as debates involving other creation scientists. Very early in its history, however, people began to think it would be instructive to those interested in the question of origins to witness debates between well-informed creation scientists and evolution scientists. None of us now on the ICR staff even thought before its founding that we would be on a public platform debating evolutionists.
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