Dave Thomas said on Monday that the theory of evolution isn't a personal attack on God, but scientific evidence proves it's the most logical theory.
Thomas, a mathematician and physicist for Quasar International, Inc., spoke about the scientific basis for evolution to a crowd that filled the Kiva Auditorium. He said before his speech that he is Jewish, but science and religion are two different things.
Science, he said, searches for the "hows" and the "whys." He said religion searches for purpose.
In his presentation, Thomas criticized Philip Johnson's argument that something more must be at work in nature than just science. Johnson is a University of California Berkley law professor and a national spokesman against evolution. Thomas said a god may have created the first bacterium, or even lightening, but people should continue to study science even if they believe in a creator.
"It doesn't do any good to say Zeus did it and stop inquiring," he said.
Thomas said Johnson's creationist theory is based on assumptions and lacked detailed explanations and supporting data.
"He's asking good questions," Thomas said. "But he's refusing to see there are some really good answers."
He said history and evolution can explain awkward designs, such as men having nipples, that Johnson's theory can't.
Thomas said creationists such as Johnson often say that the idea of evolution is atheistic. He said, however, Archbishop Micheal J. Sheehan and Pope John Paul have said that the theory of evolution can work with religion.
Thomas said creationists also say that evolution doesn't explain fossil gaps in geological records. He demonstrated how a flood separating Florida from the United States could separate a certain group of animals he called "X" from the rest of the "X" animals on the continent. This small group might then mutate to form a new kind of animal he called "Y." Then, if the water went away, reconnecting the peninsula to the continent, the new animal might migrate. Fossils showing the evolutionary process would not exist where the evolution did not take place, even if the new animals migrated to the area.
Thomas showed a type of bacterium that mutated so it could eat nylon. He said the mutation was caused by a frame shift, a small addition or movement that sometimes occurs in nature.
Mike Kent, an employee at Sandia National Labs, said Thomas' information dealt with small-scale change, but didn't cover the complexity of real biochemical systems.
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"What was presented is trivial," he said. "The real guts of biology wasn't addressed here."
Thomas said it's hard to show how everything works, but he and other scientists can show concrete examples and patterns.
Melissa Heggen, a UNM student who attended both lectures, said that Johnson's presentation was well prepared, but he seemed to ask a lot of questions and didn't really give any answers.
Heggen said Thomas didn't have Johnson's speaking skills, but gave a logical approach to the subject of evolution.