A Prominent Theistic Evolutionist Reacted to My Mutations Article

By Jake Ramgren

It's always more fun to disagree with someone than to agree. And yet, it's so satisfying to find common ground with those with whom we disagree.

Joel Duff is an interesting figure in the realm of creation-evolution discourse. He has a blog and YouTube channel dedicated primarily to critiquing young-age creationism. Part of his YouTube channel is a series literally titled "Critiquing creationism." His blog is dedicated to educating his audience by means of debunking creationist publications and arguments. But he also has a running series of videos called "This Week in Creationism," in which he actually covers the goings on in creation circles: the new research, the drama, the politics. 

I'll be honest. If I'm not following the creationist movement closely enough myself (full confession: I don't read every paper from the Creation Research Society), then I'm getting my news from Joel.

Because the most interesting part about Joel's coverage of creationists is that he is different from all the other channels that debunk, ridicule, or make fun of us crazy fundamentalists. Here's the shocker: Joel Duff is rooting for us.

No, he's not rooting for us to convert the world to our against-the-grain young-age worldview on origins. But he is rooting for us to do good scientific research. To make scientific predictions that lead to new discoveries and interesting new data. He wants us to ask questions the conventional scientists aren't asking. Because if we creationists are really serious about being good scientists, then that's exactly what we should do.

Now, does Joel believe that if we truly follow the scientific data, we will inevitably run into overwhelmingly compelling evidence of the ancient age of the universe and the common ancestry of all living things? Absolutely. But that's the thing. We disagree about those things, and that's what makes it so much more interesting when Joel encourages creationists and even offers his own advice as to what creationists should do to make our models better.

And that's where the mutations and novel traits come in. A couple months ago, in July, I published a blog post about mutations and genetic information. I made the bold claim that creationists need to abandon the argument that mutations only break things and instead accept the observable reality that mutations can create new genes that do positive things for populations of organisms. I believe that accepting this scientific data, rather than denying it merely because of its consistency with evolution theory, will ultimately help creationism rather than hurt it.

Of course, Joel agrees, for the most part, with this perspective on mutations and new genes. It's a fundamental tenet of the theory of evolution, so naturally he is going to agree with any creationist who accepts that this process happens. His videos discussing my article in a (mostly) positive light shouldn't come as a shock. In fact, I can see a concerned creationist saying "hey, he's an evolutionist! Maybe him agreeing with you is a BAD thing. Maybe it means you are on the wrong track."

First of all, let it be known that this is not the first time Duff has responded to one of my New Creation blog articles. He wrote a response to my coastal erosion article on his blog and was quite critical of it. We are not secret allies pretending to be on different sides. In fact, I am probably overstating the extent to which Joel is "rooting for us" in general. There's a good chance that if he reads this, he sympathetically shakes his head at my naïveté.

But I submit that this alarmism would be faulty thinking anyway. Because the interesting part of Joel Duff's review isn't that he happens to agree with the science. It's that he agrees with me that accepting positive mutations is good for the creation model. I challenge you to watch his videos and come to the conclusion that Dr. Duff wants nothing more than to tear down the creation movement. Instead, I think you'll find he has a much more encouraging approach, one that promotes being excited about God's creation regardless of your view on origins. He wants us to convert to his side as much as we want him on ours. But as long as some Christians refuse to budge on the historical reading of Genesis, it is Dr. Duff's desire that they do good scholarly research of their own. In a different recent video, he even expressed interest in a new creation research project looking for DNA in dinosaur fossils. 

So, if you want to see a version of creation-evolution discourse that does not involve treating the other side as stupid conspiracy theorists or as evil heretics, I would highly recommend checking out my blog article and watching Joel Duff's responses (I have no ulterior motives for doing this). Even if you disagree with the premise of positive mutations or novel traits, I hope you can approach the topic with the humility, curiosity, and love of God's creation that Dr. Duff brings to his videos, and that I hope I conveyed in my article as well. You're a daisy if you do.

My article:

The Novel Traits Conundrum • New Creation Blog

Duff's first video:

Creationist Awakening: Mutations Needed to Create New Traits

Duff's second video:

I Was Wrong About Creationists and Mutations — Here's the Nuance