Michael,

I am sorry to hear about your cancer and I wish you well in fighting it. But I know that you do believe in God and you do believe things happen for a reason. I think there is a tremendous opportunity here for you to re-evaluate your views on some issues.

On January 27, you had Martin Meredith, author of Born in Africa, on your show. You seemed very accepting of the idea that Australopithecus afarensis was our ancestor. You flat out said that you do not believe the biblical account of the Garden of Eden.

Michael, you need to understand that this whole business of us being descended from Lucy is based on the acceptance of the General Theory of Evolution, which is the idea that through random mutations and natural selection, enough information was added to the genome of a “simple” single celled organism to create you and me, as well as all other life on this planet.

Michael, John C. Sanford is a geneticist who started two biotechnology companies, has 32 patents, was awarded “Distinguished Inventor Award” by the Central New York Patent Law Association in 1990 and 1995, and has published over 70 scientific papers in peer reviewed journals. It was because of his work that he went from being an atheist, to a theistic evolutionist, to an old earth creationist, to a young earth creationist. What he observed is that what is happening with the genome is much more consistent with the biblical record than any of these other positions.

Michael, we would never evolve from Lucy. The human genome is deteriorating. We have a whole host of genetic diseases. Genetic load is building up. Genetic mutations are practically synonymous with cancer. And you know this! You did an article on it – “Is Cancer Due Mostly to ‘Bad Luck’?” There is a 17 year old from my home town of Gallatin, Missouri that just died of cancer. This is entirely inconsistent with Darwinian evolution, but entirely consistent with the biblical account of the curse. Now that you have been diagnosed with cancer, maybe this is your opportunity to rethink things. Maybe those biblical creation people are not so crazy after all.

Michael, Roger Oakland of Understanding the Times is a scientist who turned away from the faith because of what he was taught at college. He eventually came back and is now a young earth creationist. One of the things that turned him around was when his wife miscarried in the 7^th month because of a genetic mutation. That was a real reality check for him. This whole idea of things improving or advancing to more complex life through genetic mutations is a fairy tale.

Michael, you pride yourself on taking on disagreements. You let people call in on disagreement day. You give them however much time you decide to give them. Then you make your point and say “Thank you for the call.” Then you go on to the next caller. Michael, why not have a real debate? Why not have David Menton with Answers in Genesis? David Menton taught in medical school for many years. In some of his presentations, he debunks the alleged evidence that Lucy was one of our ancestors. Come on, Michael. Let us have a real debate!

Terry Read