In a word yes. Darwinism espoused gradual change. Uniformitarianism provided the geological justification for a belief in an old earth. Time was supposed to be the answer for Darwin’s theory. However geological realities crept in to give the doctrine of uniformtiarianism a reality check. Mt. St Helens demonstrated that geologic processes could happen much more rapidly than previously ASSUMED. The work of Guy Berthault showed how sedimentary rocks can be formed quickly. A video of how the rocks are formed can be found at www.noevolution.org. Richard Milton, who does not profess any religious beliefs did an excellent job in showing the fallacies of uniformitarian geology.
Darwin’s idea of gradual change with an ascent of transition forms does not fit the fossil record. Fossils appear fully formed in the fossil record, seemingly out of nowhere. In other words there is a lack of transition forms. A visiting Chinese scientist got flak for pointing out that the fossil record does not support Darwin. He responded with a wry remark along the lines of “In China one can criticize Darwin but not the government. In the United States, one can criticize the government, but not Darwin.”
The lack of transitional forms has led some to come up with a heretical evolutionary theory called “Punctuated Equilibrium.” This idea is based on an argument from silence. Since the transitional forms are lacking maybe evolution happened so quickly that there is no trace of it. In other words nature jumped. How convenient! This idea has not been widely accepted. Stephen Jay Gould, one of the authors the “Punctuated Equilibrium” hypothesis was right when he said that a trade secret of paleontologist was a lack of transition forms in the fossil record. Gould sought to solve the problem by saying there were times of stability and then rapid change. Gould attempted to inject a little catastrophism with his Neo-Catastorphist geology to support his idea. Gould, being a Marxist certainly could not go back to biblical catastrophism, so he had to settle for something else. Gould’s idea has not been overwhelmingly accepted. Neo-Darwinism still holds sway among evolutionists, in spite of the lack of transition forms and a shift in geological thinking.
Another trade secret of paleontology is that there is no real order to fossils in the rocks. The geological column is a hypothetical construct. In real life one does not see the simple life forms forms at the bottom with a line fossil leading up to the most complex life forms at the top. The chart that the the geologists use, is not dependent on animal fossils, but on marine fossils called index fossils. The index fossils are the ones with SOME degree of order. However the order does differ from region to region. Given that these index fossil are found in every strata of the hypothetical geologic column, doesn’t that suggest a flood? Noah’s worldwide flood?
Given the lack of transitional forms and lack of order in the fossil record, one has three choices: hold to gradual evolutionary idea as expressed by Darwin; believe in punctuated equilibrium as expressed by Gould; or reject evolution all together. Rejection of the evolutionary hypothesis does not mean one will automatically embrace Biblical creation. There some who are “evolutionary agnostics.” These people think the hypothesis of evolution is garbage, but there’s nothing to take its place. Michael Denton in his book Evolution, a Theory in Crisis, spends the majority of his time doing a devastating critique of Darwin’s hypothesis. But in the end Denton hold’s on to Darwin since there is nothing, in his opinion, to replace Darwin.
