Appendix to The Origin: “Darwin Was Wrong”

The appendix, that lowly dollop of tissue relegated to vestigial organ status by the Darwinians, is alive and well with new respect.  Science Daily announced results of the “first-ever study of the appendix through the ages.”  Conclusion: “Charles Darwin was wrong: The appendix is a whole lot more than an evolutionary remnant.  Not only does it appear in nature much more frequently than previously acknowledged, but it has been around much longer than anyone had suspected.”
    Researchers at the Duke University Medical Center had reported earlier that the appendix seems to “reboot” intestinal flora after a crisis (10/06/2007).  This time, they started with Darwin’s ideas about the evolution of the appendix from a cecum in a limited group of mammals, but found “two major problems with that idea.”  For one, some animals have an appendix and a cecum.  Second, the appendix is actually widespread in nature, indicating it has a function and is not withering away as a useless vestige.  The Duke researchers believe the appendix has a vital role in the immune system.  It becomes inflamed and dangerous not because of its uselessness, but because of cultural changes and improvements in sanitation that leave our immune systems “with too little work and too much time their hands – a recipe for trouble.”
    The article tried to soften the blow on Darwin by saying that the old wise man just didn’t have enough facts at this disposal.  “If Darwin had been aware of the species that have an appendix attached to a large cecum, and if he had known about the widespread nature of the appendix, he probably would not have thought of the appendix as a vestige of evolution.”  Whoever’s to blame for the misunderstanding, “Maybe it’s time to correct the textbooks,” advised Dr. William Parker, senior author of the study.  “Many biology texts today still refer to the appendix as a ‘vestigial organ.’”  Parker was even more careful not to offend Darwin.  He told Live ScienceLive Science, “We’re not saying that Darwin’s idea of evolution is wrong – that would be absurd, as we’re using his ideas on evolution to do this work.  It’s just that Darwin simply didn’t have the information we have now.”

Why does Charlie always get off with a tender wrist slap for his crimes?  If creationists proposed a theory that led medical science astray for more than a century, they would be thrown in the intellectual dungeon without possibility of parole.  Darwin gets away with murder.  How did these guys use Darwin’s theory to do their research?  Nothing about their work indicated that the appendix emerged from animals lacking one.  They could not explain its origin by slight, continuous, small modifications.  All they did was assume the Darwinian millions-of-years timetable.  Charlie’s only help to them was like a defense lawyer telling a crook how to lie effectively in court.
    Notice that the doctors said textbooks are still teaching that the appendix (and other body parts) are vestigial organs.  The few remaining such organs from the 100+ that were cited a century ago should be re-examined (05/20/2008) in light of this revelation.  Consider how false Darwinian ideas about tonsils led to many unnecessary tonsillectomies decades ago, to the detriment of some of their owners who needed their immune-system functions.  That’s an ideological crime.
    Just because a person can live without an organ does not mean it is vestigial.  In fact, Darwinian theory has trouble explaining any trait that is not required for survival and reproduction.  The whole population without the trait has to perish in the struggle for existence for the perpetuation of an organ to be explained in Darwinian theory (this is the “cost of fitness”).  Undoubtedly you can think of parts you could survive and reproduce without.
    Humans and animals are overdesigned for their life on this planet.  It’s a travesty to consign everything about living things as solely justified on its ability to pass on genes.  Darwin was wrong.  The appendix undermines the book.