Professor Stuart Burgess, the author of the article from which this abbreviated version was taken claims the debate over creation and evolution is far from settled, with design, complexity, the origin of life and the fossil record raising enduring questions about a Creator.

Professor Stuart Burgess, B.Sc. (Eng.), Ph.D., C.Eng., FIMechE, excels in mechanical engineering, both in man-made devices and God’s design in nature. He has held academic posts at Bristol University, Cambridge University and Liberty University in the USA. At Bristol University he was appointed Head of Department three times between 2004 and 2011. He has worked for the European Space Agency (ESA) and was the lead designer for the solar array on the world’s largest civilian earth-observation spacecraft (Envisat); these gear systems are used on all the ESA’s large earth-observation satellites. For years, he led the design and testing of the chain drive for the British Olympic Track Cycling Team who won a record six gold medals at the 2016 Rio Olympics and also ranked 1st in the 2021 (postponed due to Covid) and 2024 Olympic Games. He was invited to exhibit this work at the Royal Society (National Academy of Sciences) in the UK in 2017 where it received national publicity. He has published over 200 scientific papers on the science of design in engineering and nature.

A Royal Society lecture delivered by Steve Jones had an unusually blunt title – ‘Why creationism is wrong and evolution is right’. The purpose of the uncompromising title was, no doubt, to try to convince a sceptical public that evolution should be accepted as scientific truth.

A Mori poll for the BBC Horizon programme showed that only 48% of people in the UK believe the theory of evolution, and that 44% think that creationism should be taught in science classes.

But it is not just among the general public that you find a stubborn belief in a Creator. Many scientists and engineers who believe that there must be at least some involvement of a supernatural Creator to explain life on earth. Professor Stuart Burgess knows two biology professors who doubt many of the fundamental aspects of evolutionary theory, despite having to teach the theory to their students.

ORIGIN OF LIFE: Intelligent design arguably provides the only answer to one of the biggest questions of all – the origin of the very first living system. Despite intense efforts using sophisticated equipment, no one has been able to produce self-sustaining life from lifeless chemicals.

The result of the classic Miller experiment in 1953, which created some of the building blocks of life from ordinary chemicals, represents meagre progress. The fact that there has been no progress on this front during the last 50 years makes it very difficult to believe that life emerged by accident in the first place.

OVER DESIGN IN NATURE: Another compelling piece of evidence for intelligent design is the existence of over-design in nature. Evolutionary theory is based strictly on fitness for survival. However, many organisms have beauty and sophistication far beyond what is needed for them to survive.

The brilliant peacock tail feathers, which produce their colours by optical interference, have a design of breath-taking precision. Yet their only function is to form an attractive display (and remember that most other birds get by without such optical displays!) The intricacy of peacock feathers, it is said, made Darwin feel sick when he looked at them.

FOSSIL EVIDENCE: Fossil evidence, like the recently publicised fish Tiktaalik roseae (supposedly a transition between fish and land animals), does little to convince for evolution. Such creatures were well designed for their particular environment – and the fact that they exhibit unusual combinations of features does not mean that they are necessarily ‘missing links’ between other kinds of creatures.

Only those already committed to a belief in evolution are forced to see them as evolutionary ‘links’ rather than well-designed creatures in their own right. Overall, the fossil record continues to provide more problems for evolution than support.

It is significant that many of the greatest scientists were enthusiastic believers in a Creator – including Isaac Newton, Lord Kelvin, James Clerk Maxwell and Michael Faraday. The last three of these scientists knew of the theory of evolution but believed in intelligent design and the biblical creation account. Anyone who believes in a Creator stands shoulder to shoulder with some of the greatest scientists in history.

The current fashion of ruling out any role for God in origins actually breaks a fundamental principle of science – namely, to be open-minded about ideas before there is concrete proof that they are wrong. No one has proved that God had no role in origins.

Because the origin of life is an unrepeatable event, it will never be possible to prove how life came into existence. Even if evolution were to be taught in schools for the next 100 years, the majority of people would probably still instinctively believe in a Creator.