From the print edition of The New American

ISTANBUL, Turkey — Did you come from slime and monkeys? Not according to scientists here. A collection of prestigious academics and experts from around the world, representing various disciplines, came together in late April to challenge what many described as a “lie” or a “hoax.” This ruse, they said, has underpinned all manner of evils since it first gained widespread acceptance. From communism and national socialism to terrorism, atheism, and eugenics, this theory has been crucial to propagating countless curses and scourges that have afflicted humanity for centuries, they argued.

The Enemy: The theory of evolution. Each speaker at the 3rd International Conference on the Origin of Life in Istanbul had his or her own specialty. They had varied religions, too, ranging from evangelical Christians, Catholics, and Mormons to Muslims and more generic deist-monotheists. But they all agreed on one point: A growing battery of scientific evidence debunks the evolution hypothesis, which some in attendance even compared to a powerful false religion.

The scientific conference, put on by the Turkish Technics and Science Research Foundation along with the Foundation for the Preservation of National Values and the National Values Foundation, has played a major role in undermining trust in the evolutionary worldview within Turkey. In fact, Turkey is now one of the most anti-evolution nations in the world, with the government announcing last year that the controversial theory would no longer be pushed on students in primary and secondary schools.

Already, the efforts to use science against the evolution theory are bearing fruit across the Islamic world and beyond. Now, conference organizers and speakers are hoping that their efforts will have an effect across the West, too. “We share a language that declares Almighty God created the universe from nothing,” said Adnan Oktar, the honorary president of the conference and one of the world’s leading Muslim creationists. “We thank the speakers who traveled thousands of kilometers from their homes to come here and expose the dictatorship of Darwin.”

This article will provide a very brief sketch of what the experts at the conference had to say. The purpose is to present the other side — the side those who get all of their information from the  media or the government’s schools may not even know exists, at least within the scientific community. On the other hand, this piece is by no means definitive or comprehensive. Readers, particularly those who may never have been exposed to scientific anti-evolution arguments, are invited to consider what the experts have to say, and, if the article piques an interest, to explore further.

Biochemist Touts God’s Design of Human Genome

Biochemist Dr. Fazale “Fuz” Rana, vice president of research and apologetics at Reasons to Believe, a Christian organ­ization that uses science to promote its views on creation, gave a fascinating talk on “The Human Genome: Encoded by Design.” From the start, he argued that scientific evidence points to the existence of God, and “undermines the evolutionary paradigm.” His speech emphasized God’s programming language used in DNA, and he made a powerful case. One point in particular he focused on was the incredible complexity of the chemistry and the biological systems of a cell, and how everything must work perfectly together for it to function.

“As a Christian and a scientist, I am convinced that nature provides evidence for God’s handiwork,” he explained, citing the book of Job and the growing scientific evidence supporting Creation. “And yet, when presented with compelling evidence for design that comes from biology, so many skeptics reject the evidence — and with this rejection, they reject belief in God.”

Rana, who in addition to authoring numerous scientific papers wrote the book The Cell’s Design: How Chemistry Reveals the Creator’s Artistry, focused in particular on the design of the human genome. The sequence of it, he argued, is the language God used to create mankind. Even then-President Bill Clinton, hardly a paragon of religious ideals, described the human genome sequence as “the language in which God created life” in 2000 as more was being learned.

Contrary to earlier beliefs among scientists that much of the DNA sequence was useless “junk” — an argument used by evolutionists for years — the latest discoveries show it has a purpose. The ENCODE project, short for the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements, which helped decipher the purpose of the genes, was crucial to exposing the “junk DNA” fallacy. “The set of genes found in the human genome are like words used in the dictionary,” added Rana, who converted to Christianity from Islam. “It’s not a wasteland of junk, but an elegant biochemical system that is far more complex than we initially imagined.”

Citing the growing understanding of the genome, the biochemist closed with Psalm 139, in which David writes: “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”

Physicist on Design Principles in Biology

Another scientist who focused on the scientific evidence of creation was Dr. David Snoke, a professor of physics at the University of Pittsburgh and the head of the Christian Scientific Society. In his speech, “How biologists are already widely using intelligent design principles … and why their explanations for this are problematic,” Snoke argued that scientists all over the world rely on the assumption that biological systems are designed — even if they refuse to accept the logical implications, namely, that a brilliant Creator did the designing. “The whole universe looks like it is designed and has purpose,” he said.

To begin with, he used the analogy of a microchip given to an engineer, who was tasked with reverse engineering it. The engineer would only have two options to explain its origins: Either it was designed by a master engineer, or it was randomly created by chance after many attempts. “It is assumed that living systems are optimally designed,” he explained, noting that engineering principles today are common in biology. The scientific literature today is filled with references to purpose and design, he added.

Information intrinsically implies teleology, or a purpose, he continued. To illustrate his point, he showed a video representation of DNA’s duplication mechanism at work, something so complicated it could scarcely be imagined by a mere mortal. “Imagine in your mind the dance that God has put into the cell,” said Dr. Snoke. “This mechanism has to work before natural selection can do anything, because you have to copy the DNA. All of this is necessary for life to even exist.”

In a follow-up interview with The New American, Snoke said many scientists still reject God and Creation because of “social reasons,” not scientific evidence. Addressing one of the non-scientific reasons for the rejection of God — the notion that talk of God would result in superstition, mysticism, and other perceived problems — he argued in his speech and the interview that it would do no such thing. Indeed, in the wake of the Reformation, the majority of scientists were Christians, he explained.

Among the high-profile Christian scientists were the founders of modern science. “Newton believed strongly in God,” said Snoke. “He wrote two books on science and four on theology.” Other examples included William Harvey, father of modern medicine; Blaise Pascal, founder of fluid mechanics; G.W. Leibniz, father of calculus; William Thompson (Lord Kelvin), father of thermodynamics; Wernher von Braun, father of space travel; and more.

“All of these scientists are saying that God can be seen in what He has made,” Snoke concluded, echoing scripture. Belief in God and that God designed the universe for a purpose “led people to do very good science.”

Astrophysicist Highlights Uniqueness of Earth

Another prestigious scientist, Dr. Bijan Nemati, an Iranian-born convert to Christianity who serves as principal research scientist at the University of Alabama-Huntsville, spoke to the audience about “The Pale Blue Dot Revisited: Appreciating Our Uncommon Place in the Universe.” While the ruling paradigm in science today rejects a Creator, this view is inadequate to explain the evidence and countless questions. “For example, what is….  more here https://www.thenewamerican.com/print-magazine/item/29183-international-scientific-conference-deems-evolution-a-hoax