There is no denying evolution

I must point out the blatant falsehoods in Joseph Mizzi's letter on evolution (The Sunday Times, February 22). It is not "some scientists" who accept the theory of evolution. It is the overwhelming majority of the scientific community; those who don't try to inject their fundamentalist ideology into the classroom.

The book by Michael Denton, which Dr Mizzi quotes, Evolution: A Theory in Crisis, received very bad reviews from scientists, which I think puts a serious dent in the author's claims.

Practically every quote which Dr Mizzi cited in his letter was out of context. David Raup did write those words; however, Dr Mizzi left out critical parts, such as where the author says: "To be sure, some new intermediate or transitional forms have been found, particularly among land vertebrates."

Dr Mizzi also quoted Steven M. Stanley as doubting evolution. Yet, in the same paragraph Dr Mizzi said Stanley was talking about "quantum speciation" which he defined as: "simply a speciation in which most evolution is concentrated within an initial interval of time that is very brief with respect to the total longevity of the new lineage that is produced." I do not think Prof. Stanley doubts evolution.

I must stress that evolution's major evidence comes not from the fossil record but from genetic evidence, where it can be clearly shown that all living organisms share a common ancestor. For this, there is plenty of evidence.

Also, attacking Darwin's work is pretty useless as it is largely out of date. Biologists respect his work because it revolutionised biology and science as a whole. However, they have moved beyond that. Dr Mizzi should read Theodosius Dobzhansky or Ernst Mayr so he can catch up with modern evolutionary synthesis.

Evolution is the backbone of modern biology and unifies every discipline within it, denying it is like denying the sky is blue while refusing to look up.