How do people know evolution is false?

Answer 1

People think they know the theory of evolution is false primarily because it contrasts with their religious beliefs. For Christians, The Bible says that man was created from the dust of the earth. This is a source of pride for such people because, if true, it would mean they were special. Evolutionary theory, on the other hand, says that man is descended from lower primates who developed through the forces of natural selection over many millions of years. This would mean they were not special and were themselves animals. This offends Christians because they believe man is superior to the beasts of the earth. This has ties to ancient Greek philosophy. Greek philosophers believed only man was capable of thinking. Animals were considered only mindless automatons. This way of thinking lives on in the minds of the religious.

Those that do find fault with evolution usually know very little about the subject. The reasons listed in the first answer above are evidence of this. For instance, the second law of thermodynamics does refer to an increase of entropy in a closed system. However, the earth is not a closed system because it receives energy from the sun's rays. The rest of the answer is an appeal to emotions since it asks readers to gauge the validity of evolution based on the way they think it should be-in this case, that god created man and the universe-as opposed to surveying the readily available evidence.

Back to the question, some highly educated people with degrees in science have proposed various objections to evolution. Michael Behe, for example, has proposed "Irreducible Complexity," the theory that life is too complex to have come about through natural selection. A famous example is the flagellum, a whip-like protrusion, of bacteria. Behe posited that the twirling motion of the flagellum would stop working and become useless if any one of its components were removed. The overall theory was tested and debunked in a court of law

(see Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District). Despite this, Irreducible Complexity is a very strong rallying point for religious people since they feel it is a more valid scientific theory than evolution.