US Conservative Leader Falls for Darwin Party Narrative

He should have exercised
his good critical thinking
skills better on this topic

Newt Gingrich is a gifted, honorable, and intelligent man, still active as a conservative commentator decades after his tenure as House Speaker (1995-1999). He can reason through the errors of the radical left as good as anyone, and do it with grace. But what does he know about dinosaurs?

Posted by Newt Gingrich August 8th on X and Truth Social

If the asteroid had missed (6 Aug 2024, Gingrich360). In this commentary, Speaker Gingrich speculates about what might have happened if the asteroid that allegedly killed all the dinosaurs had missed earth, allowing them to continue to “evolve” smarter over time. “I find it useful to remember that one of the most decisive events in the history of life on Earth happened 66 million years ago,” he begins.

As a thought experiment to get my mind off the presidential race, the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, and all the other reasons to worry, I asked scientists what would have happened if the asteroid had missed….

One of my favorite paleontologists is Steve Brusatte. I have talked with him multiple times on my Newt’s World podcast about dinosaurs and the rise of mammals.

In response to my question, Brusatte wrote:

“I’m sure a fairly nice diversity of non-avian dinosaurs would still be here. If there was no sudden, catastrophic shock of the asteroid, I really don’t see anything that’s happened since – whether it was the spread of grasslands; changing ocean currents; the separation of Antarctica from South America, which caused a cold snap; or the more recent Ice Ages – that would have knocked off the dinosaurs.”

Some commentators have noted that “thought experiment” is an oxymoron. Perhaps it was sophoxymoronic to swallow the Darwinian narrative about dinosaurs and Deep Time without asking hard questions that he normally would ask leftist progressive politicians. Newt’s cave to the Darwinian narrative is especially egregious in what he writes next:

Douglas Dixon wrote a book in 1988 called “The New Dinosaurs: An Alternative Evolution.”

Further, Canadian Paleontologist Dale Russell made one of the most interesting attempts at thinking through a dinosaur survival sequence. He proposed that an intelligent “dinosauroid” might have evolved if the asteroid had not ended dinosaur evolution. Russell suggested that the carnivorous dinosaur Troodon had an unusually large brain and might have been the lineage from which higher thinking dinosaurs evolved.

We might hasten to point out that nobody has seen a living dinosaur to scientifically observe their brains or behaviors, certainly not a “higher thinking dinosauroid.”

Gingrich argues against progressivism in politics, but falls into the myth of progress about Darwinian evolution. Does he not realize that the following story is built on the belief that a mythical “natural selector” gathers up chance mutations to build engineering marvels?

Without some catastrophic killing event, it is likely dinosaurs would have continued to evolve. They would have likely developed more complex social patterns – and more effective methods of organizing, food gathering, and child rearing.

The other competitors, small reptiles, amphibians, birds, and mammals, may have remained smaller, marginal, scattered, and unable to compete directly with the dinosaurs – which would have continued evolving.

The asteroid extinction hypothesis is not without problems. Leading scientists admit it (21 Dec 2014). Biblical geologists point out anomalies (5 June 2018). And common sense reasoning raises doubts (10 Feb 2013, 13 Dec 2021). Is it sensible to believe that a rock selectively killed all the dinosaurs around the whole world, but left butterflies and frogs alive?

What’s the Point

Does Speaker Gingrich draw any moral lesson from this evolutionary speculation trance? Does he press on to a point he can use against leftist progressives? No; he only thought it was “useful” to speculate about evolution to get his mind off politics. But in this case, he caves to his political opponents by accepting their pseudo-scientific narrative of the history of the world. By doing that, he undermines his core beliefs in the American Declaration of Independence and Constitution: the principle that all men are created equal, and that our rights come from God, not evolution. If evolution was the source of our rights, they would not be rights at all. They would be mere conventions that could evolve.

Dinosaurs declare the awesome power and wisdom of God. Animated T rex model at ICR’s Creation Discovery Museum in Dallas, TX.

I was very sad to see Newt Gingrich write this, because I respect his opinions when he sticks to his strong point: the logic of conservative principles. Gingrich is Catholic, and many Catholics (as well as members of mainstream Protestant denominations) have never learned to be critical of Darwinism. They learned it in school, they never questioned it, and now they regurgitate the Darwin Party line uncritically. Conservatives, this it not a good talking point to use in an election year!

We hate to disturb Gingrich’s friendship with Steve Brusatte, but he should have heard that dinosaur paleontologist’s jaw hit the floor when he learned about unfossilized dinosaur blood said to be (according to Darwinian dating) 195 million Darwin Years old (31 Jan 2017). But did Brusatte repent of his belief in Deep Time? No! To this day he continues to believe the Darwinian narrative and deny that dinosaurs were created by God on the 6th Day of creation thousands of years ago, not millions. Brusatte’s worldview flatly contradicts what the Bible says about the history of life on earth. How can Speaker Gingrich trust this guy?

When it comes to observational evidence, Brusatte was wrong about synapsids (27 Nov 2018). Brusatte speculated without evidence about convergent evolution in bird beaks (25 Nov 2020). Brusatte cannot point to a single transitional form for pterosaurs, but denies the Biblical Flood (23 Aug 2021). He makes up stories out of whole cloth about the evolution of birds, essentially believing in miracles of chance about bird flight (21 March 2024). Brusatte bends time like a rubber band to keep fossils aligned with the Darwin story (4 Nov 2014). Dear Speaker Gingrich: you should be debating this guy on the evidence, not repeating his storytelling!

A little reflection on the consequences of the Darwinian story should have struck Speaker Gingrich like a 2×4 up the side of the head. If humans evolved like Darwinists speculate dinosaurs evolved, then we are mere meat machines with no purpose, plan, or rights. And if his Catholic beliefs are not grounded in the history of creation revealed in God’s word, then there was no sin, no fall, and no Savior.

This is another reason people need ministries like Creation-Evolution Headlines. They need data from the original sources that is not perceived through the Darwinian distortion lenses. And especially, they need help getting out from the fogma so they can see the charade going on and not be fooled.