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== Loss of function does not prove evolution ==

== Loss of function does not prove evolution ==

Evolutionist claim that [[snake]]s have vestigial features.<ref>Zimmer, 1997</ref>

Evolutionists claim that [[snake]]s have vestigial features.<ref>Zimmer, 1997</ref>

According to the science magazine ''[[New Scientist]]'':

According to the science magazine ''[[New Scientist]]'':

{{QuoteBox|<p>Scientists have found fossils of a legged snake with “hips” – a specimen that could be the most primitive snake ever unearthed. The find suggests early snakes were not creatures of the sea and has reignited the debate over how snakes evolved.

{{QuoteBox|<p>Scientists have found fossils of a legged snake with “hips” – a specimen that could be the most primitive snake ever unearthed. The find suggests early snakes were not creatures of the sea and has reignited the debate over how snakes evolved.

In the view of secular evolutionists, vestigial structures are some of the best evidence in favor of [[evolution]] and against [[intelligent design]] because the most parsimonious explanation for these structures' existence is that they were once functional in progenitor species, but were rendered useless by evolution. According to [[Occam's Razor]], all other things being equal, the solution that makes the fewest assumptions is the best.

In the view of secular evolutionists, vestigial structures are some of the best evidence in favor of [[evolution]] and against [[intelligent design]] because the most parsimonious explanation for these structures' existence is that they were once functional in progenitor species, but were rendered useless by evolution. According to [[Occam's Razor]], all other things being equal, the solution that makes the fewest assumptions is the best.

However, this argument ignores the counter argument of [[the fall]], where it is understood that current conditions are not the way God originally designed, and that vestigial structures are, if anything, evidence for ''devolution'', not evolution.<ref>Batten and Sarfati</ref>

However, this argument ignores the counterargument of [[the fall]], where it is understood that current conditions are not the way [[God]] originally designed, and that vestigial structures are, if anything, evidence for ''devolution'', not evolution.<ref>Batten and Sarfati</ref>

Furthermore, the fact that science has not determined the function of a particular structure does not mean that the structure has no function.  Indeed, as stated earlier evolutionists have in the past proposed 180 human organs as being vestigial, but we now know that the vast majority of those organs have since been found to have definite functions,<ref name="JB2000" /> including the [[tonsils]], [[thymus]], and the [[pineal gland]]. The tonsils were found to help fight infection, and the thymus and pineal gland were both found to secrete important hormones.<ref>Darwinism Refuted.com</ref> In addition, a number of suggestions and claims have been made about the role of the human appendix.<ref>Glover, 1998; Ham and Wieland, 1997; Wilkinson, 2004; Anon., 2007; Wieland and Doyle, 2008, Associated Press, 2007.</ref>

Furthermore, the fact that science has not determined the function of a particular structure does not mean that the structure has no function.  Indeed, as stated earlier evolutionists have in the past proposed 180 human organs as being vestigial, but we now know that the vast majority of those organs have since been found to have definite functions,<ref name="JB2000" /> including the [[tonsils]], [[thymus]], and the [[pineal gland]]. The tonsils were found to help fight infection, and the thymus and pineal gland were both found to secrete important hormones.<ref>Darwinism Refuted.com</ref> In addition, a number of suggestions and claims have been made about the role of the human appendix.<ref>Glover, 1998; Ham and Wieland, 1997; Wilkinson, 2004; Anon., 2007; Wieland and Doyle, 2008, Associated Press, 2007.</ref>