Most of Darwin's theory has, in fact, become even more strongly accepted by scientists than Maxwell's theory, and became evolutionary theory. Most of the lay public can't even tell you what Maxwell's equations are, or what they represent. So even with the general public, evolutionary theory has preeminence. Of course, the real issue with acceptance is that evolutionary theory tells us that we are not special and goes against many closely-held creation myths, but you won't hear Berlinski mention that as the reason for non-acceptance.
Actually, it's a model with predictive properties, which has been tested, and either corrected or verified from that testing. Again, Berlinski will not mention this.
The second sentence is flatly, totally false.
Fossilization does not occur in a slow, steady way.
Every time we put some fossil into a gap, creationists point out to the two smaller gaps created, and then say gaps can't be filled.
80 million years is not "at once".
Populations are shaped by their environment. When the environment is stable, the population will be relatively stable. When the environment changes, the population changes, or dies off.
Gradualism would be a characteristic of stable environments.
I call it hack-work because it presents plain falsehoods, distorts the current theory, hides certain facts, and exaggerates the level and types of disagreements among biologists.
