The Question that Dare not to be Asked

The sheer vehemence of the protest fascinates me. Why is it so strong? Furthermore, why is it only in connection with this area of intellectual endeavour  that I have ever heard an eminent scientist (with a Nobel Prize to his name, no less) say in a public lecture in Oxford: ‘You must not question evolution’? After all, scientists have dared to question even Newton and Einstein. Indeed, most of us were (rightly – dare I say?) brought up to believe that  questioning standard wisdom was one of the most important ways in which science grows. All science, however well established, benefits from being periodically  questioned. So why is there such a taboo on questioning evolution? Why is this, and only this, particular area of science a no-go area, fenced off from being questioned?^[1]

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[1] John C. Lennox, God’s Undertaker: Has Science Buried God? (England: Lion Hudson Plc, 2009), 95.