Changes

== Definition ==

== Definition ==

By "the evolutionary paradigm" I mean more than the [[theory of evolution]]. After all, evolution, properly understood, means change over time. And such change ''does'' occur, even to the development of new species. Creation [[biology]] takes the position (which I share) that the ancestors of life were not one, but many—at least one species per [[taxonomy|taxonomic]] family and possibly one species per taxonomic genus. But the evolutionary paradigm insists that [[natural selection]] and speciation are all that was required to create the astounding diversity of [[life]] from ''one'' common ancestor, a position known as "common descent."

By "the evolutionary paradigm" I mean more than the [[theory of evolution]]. After all, evolution, properly understood, means change over time. And such change ''does'' occur, even to the development of new species. Creation [[biology]] takes the position (which I share) that the ancestors of life were not one, but many—at least one species per [[taxonomy|taxonomic]] family and possibly one species per taxonomic genus. But the evolutionary paradigm insists that [[natural selection]] and speciation are all that was required to create the astounding diversity of [[life]] from ''one'' common ancestor, a doctrine known as "common descent."

Now to assert, as [[Charles Darwin]] did, that all of life derives from a single ancestor, necessarily requires a great deal of time—[[deep time]], to be specific. Enter Sir [[Charles Lyell]], a [[geology|geologist]] and a [[law]]yer who used his considerable skill as a [[rhetoric]]ian, more than any true [[science|scientific]] insight, to argue that ''the same processes in operation today for the formation and laying down of rock have always operated for all eternity.'' This is the classic position of [[uniformitarianism]]. Technically, uniformitarianism is a concept unique to geology. But [[astronomy]] largely copied Lyell's ideas and came up with uniformitarian ideas of their own.

Now to assert, as [[Charles Darwin]] did, that all of life derives from a single ancestor, necessarily requires a great deal of time—[[deep time]], to be specific. Enter Sir [[Charles Lyell]], a [[geology|geologist]] and a [[law]]yer who used his considerable skill as a [[rhetoric]]ian, more than any true [[science|scientific]] insight, to argue that ''the same processes in operation today for the formation and laying down of rock have always operated for all eternity.'' This is the classic position of [[uniformitarianism]]. Technically, uniformitarianism is a concept unique to geology. But [[astronomy]] largely copied Lyell's ideas and came up with uniformitarian ideas of their own.