The disastrous results of all this are detailed in Professor Johnson's recent book, referred to above.
Why organic evolution is not science but only materialistic metaphysics
In the seventeenth century Sir Francis Bacon proposed the application of the Scientific Method as a means for distinguishing theories that were truly part of natural science and those which were outside of it. According to a modern text book, the scientific method is applied as follows:1
Define the problem.
Collect information on the problem.
Form a hypothesis.
Experiment to test the hypothesis.
Reach a conclusion.
The late Sir Karl Popper, a renowned philosopher of science, reminded us that Darwinism could not be tested by science's trial and error methods. Although attracted to it as a philosophy, he was thus forced to admit that Darwinism is not testable scientific theory but is no more than a metaphysical research program.2 This being so it is not part of natural science within Baconian principles.
Adverting to Popper's view of the distinction between science and non-science, Dr. Colin Patterson, a leading paleontologist at the British Museum of Natural History, also pointed out that the theory of organic evolution is concerned with a series of (alleged) unique historical events, which, because they are unrepeatable, cannot be part of science because they cannot be scientifically tested.3
1 Bigs et al., Biology: The Dynamics of Life (1991), Merril Publishing Co., Columbus, Ohio, U.S.A. The word "metaphysical" in relation to evolution is conveniently used here because it was adopted by Popper (see article) and by Patterson (as the statement referred to in Ref. 3 of the article shows). Some would argue, however, that it is not a true metaphysical theory but is more a belief system which is the basis of a pantheistic religion.
2 "I have come to the conclusion that Darwinism is not a testable scientific theory but a metaphysical research programme. It is important to remember that Darwinism is metaphysical and not scientific." K. Popper, at p. 168 of his autobiography, Unended Quest, (1976), Fontana Books Wm. Collins & Co., London.
3 Dr. Colin Patterson, British Museum of Natural History, (1978), at pp. 145/6. Dr. Patterson is not a creationist but is an agnostic.