It is not hard to find articles on both sides of the evolution debate arguing that the evolutionary process is random. In 1995, the National Association of Biology Teachers raised eyebrows with this definition of evolution:

The diversity of life on earth is the result of evolution: an unsupervised, impersonal, unpredictable and natural process of temporal descent with genetic modification that is affected by natural selection, chance, historical contingencies and changing environments.

As the field of geology began to solidify and move from an infant to a mature science, its applications were examined.  The works of Hutton, Lyell and William “Strata” Smith had established that the layers of the earth were a succession of historical periods in the life of the planet.  The works of Steno and other naturalists such as Baron Cuvier, the father of paleontology, and John Ray fueled interest in examining the fossil record.  By the middle of the last century, the wealth of data was being used to infer much about what had happened in the biological past. 

Two main areas must be covered in order to assess the evidence for evolution: the fossil evidence and the genetic evidence. Over the course of this essay and the one that follows, I will address the history of the fossil record and the evidence that it provides for biological evolution.

It is clear from reading the vast majority of literature emanating from many recent earth creation and intelligent design sites and papers that the concept of biological evolution and its supporting evidence are very badly misunderstood.