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Index to Creationist Claims,  edited by Mark Isaak,    Copyright © 2006
Previous Claim: CI131   |   List of Claims   |   Next Claim: CI141.1

Claim CI141:

Similarities in anatomy and DNA sequences simply reflect the fact that the organisms had the same designer.

Source:

Sarfati, Jonathan, 2002. Refuting Evolution 2. Master Books, chap. 6. http://www.answersingenesis.org/Home/Area/RE2/chapter6.asp

Response:

  1. Different forms also (it is claimed) come from the same designer, so similar forms are not evidence of a common designer. Evidence for a designer must begin by specifying (before the fact) what is expected from the designer. When do we expect similar forms, and when do we expect different forms? "Intelligent design" theory will not answer that. Evolution theory has made that prediction, and the pattern of similarities and differences that we observe accords with what evolution predicts.

  2. There are similarities that cannot rationally be attributed to design. For example, an endogenous retroviral element (ERV) is a retrovirus (a parasite) that has become part of the genome. There are several kinds of ERVs, and they can insert themselves at random locations. Humans and chimps have thousands of such ERVs in common -- the same type of ERV at the same location in the genome (D. M. Taylor 2003).

  3. The "form follows function" principle is the opposite from what we expect from known design.

References:

  1. Taylor, D. M, 2003. Alignment of Chimp_rp43-42n4 against human chromosome 15. http://www-personal.umich.edu/~lilyth/erv

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created 2003-5-5