Excerpted from Discovering Intelligent Design, by Gary Kemper, Hallie Kemper, and Casey Luskin; Chapter 2, “Survival of the Materialist”:
When terms are not carefully defined, miscommunication and false leaps of logic can result. For instance, when you see the word “evolution,” you should ask, “Which definition is being used?” Typically, there are three common meanings.
>> Evolution #1: Microevolution (defined earlier): Small-scale changes in a population of organisms.
Macroevolution (also defined earlier) can be divided into two parts.
>> Evolution #2: Universal Common Descent: The view that all organisms are related and are descended from a single common ancestor.
>> Evolution #3: Natural Selection: The view that an unguided process of natural selection acting upon random mutation has been the primary mechanism driving the evolution of life.
Sometimes evolutionists purposefully confuse these definitions, hoping you won’t notice that they overstated their case. It’s not uncommon for an evolutionist to take evidence for microevolution (evolution #1), and claim it supports common descent (evolution #2) or development solely through unguided mechanisms (evolution #3).
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