The term “natural selection” is used to describe how one species might develop from another. God created the various kinds or baramins of creatures with a wide variety of genetic information. If a population of a creature with such a deep gene pool is placed in an environment that requires certain characteristics, for which the gene pool has information, then the next and subsequent generations may “select” that information, discarding alternative information. For example, wolf-kind animals living in colder environments may “select” genes for longer hair, which might mean that the genes for shorter hair in that new species are lost.
The word “select” has been placed in quotes, because nature, being an abstract, cannot really select anything. Notice also that the genetic information of the new generations is selected from existing information. No new information has been created. Therefore, this process is not evolution, in the normal biological “molecules-to-man” sense. The best term for this process is speciation. Although the term micro-evolution used to be used, it is a misleading term, and we recommend that creationists do not use it, because speciation has nothing to do with the “upward progress” of Darwinian evolution. The spontaneous creation of new genetic information required for Darwinian evolution is not observed, and is therefore not scientifically credible.
There is a sense in which the term natural selection is a reification (a type of logical fallacy), because nature cannot select anything. Nevertheless, the term is useful to us. Natural selection does not lead to evolution. It is an observed, scientific phenomenon, whereas Darwinian evolution is not. Natural selection is not in the least problematic for creationists, as it is an inevitable part of the development of species within baramins. It should be noted that some creationists are working on alternative explanations as to how genetic information is selected, but most creationists are happy to use the term natural selection.
