Misunderstanding the theory of evolution
Dyna Rochmyaningsih ,  Jakarta   |  Thu, 03/25/2010 9:33 AM  |  Opinion 

One year after its bicentennial celebration, there are still many people who 
regard the theory of evolution as propaganda to spread anti-religious thought.

I suspect that it is due to the misperception of the theory in the mind of 
common people. Most of them perceive the theory of evolution only as the 
gradual change from monkey to human which is insulting to their faith. 

They grasp the theory only on a superficial level without understanding the 
mechanism of the theory itself. 

Given the comment made by Prof. Boedi Hartono from the University of Indonesia 
in The Jakarta Post this month, commenting on an article by Michael Casey, he 
said that the finding of Homo floresiensis as a new species did not challenge 
the theory of evolution. 

I agree with him since the concept of the Hobbit as a new species is an 
interpretation that may only affect the theory of human evolution. It has 
nothing to do with the evolution of cats, dogs, or orchids. 
But what has happened in the mind of many people is that the theory of 
evolution is only applied to humans. So the article by Michael Casey is enough 
for them to deny the controversial theory. Of course this is a shallow view.

The theory of evolution itself is the explanation of how the diversity of all 
living things on earth came into existence. It is a fact that there are other 
kinds of organisms besides human on this earth such as cats, trees, dogs etc. 

But how did those diverse organisms come into existence? We can accept the 
explanation of how a volcanic rock can exist in this world by inferring that 
the rock is the result of an eruption of a mountain hundreds of years ago. 

So why can't we accept the explanation of how a living thing comes into 

Every living thing is the product of their progenitor. For instance, we are the 
product of the mating of our parents. We inherit their genes in a new 
combination that shapes our physical and physiological characteristics. 

No one would say that they come into the world out of nothing; they must have 
biological parents to exist in the world. 

And so is with our cats, dogs, trees, they all originated from their parents. 
One important piece of evidence for the theory of evolution comes from this 
very fact: Every living thing has genetic material and they get it from their 

And their parents, as living things, get their genetic material from their 
grandparents, and so on and so forth until we meet the ancestors. 

But the problem is the genetic material in every organism may change in a 
random pattern called mutation. Since the genes are the blueprint of an 
organism, mutation often affects the physical and physiological characteristic 
of an organism. 

If the change is good and suitable for the environment, the mutant organism may 
survive and pass the mutant gene to their children, which will finally replace 
the dominancy of the normal one. 

The mutant individuals may become a new species. Thus, we can infer that the 
new species is the descendant of the previous species. I think it is reasonable 
for us to accept this explanation.

The same mechanism can be applied in all organisms which procreate through 
sexual reproduction. 

Their existence can be explained by the changing of genetic material of their 
ancestors, correlated with its suitability with the environment. But, of 
course, as a scientific theory, this mechanism is not the ultimate truth of 

Recently, scientists have found another way for an organism to acquire new 
genes: horizontal genetic transfer (HGT). Unlike normal genetic inheritance, 
which is passed from parents to the offspring, HGT is the mechanism where the 
genetic material can be transferred from one individual to the other without 
producing offspring. 

This finding means that the genomic pattern in one organism may not be used to 
determine its ancestors. The theory of evolution is confounded here. 

This confounder makes me think that we should not consider the theory of 
evolution as a threat to our faith. 

It is a scientific theory that can be either confounded or corroborated. We 
should not place it as something that is equal to the ultimate truth in which 
we may believe.  

The author is a science writer.

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