[ExI] Is Evolution more random mutation than adaptation?

[Ivor Peter Brians]

On 5-7-2015 Henry Rivera wrote:
"I thought all evolutionary biologists already knew and accepted that speciation is a consequence of random mutation. It's survival of the species within an environmental context that shows natural selection at work. And I'm pretty sure I recall that Darwin said as much in the Origin of Species. Sounds like creationists may have confused people about this (even biologists?) due to their misunderstanding/misrepresenting of Darwin"

That is exactly what I thought when I read BillW's post although stated more eloquently by Henry than what I might have managed.
Decades ago in high school biology class we were taught that, "Species do not change to survive but survive because they happened to change." 
Ivor