1st February 2013
“Evolution is a simple fact. We can choose to remain ignorant of it, we can stick our fingers in our ears and refuse to think about it, we can even rail against it and shout and scream that it is not allowed to be true. But facts are facts, and will not go away just because we don't like them.”
Paula Kirby
February 1st, 2013 at 3:26
Atheism is science, creation is religion and never the twain shall meet.
February 1st, 2013 at 3:28
Oops. EVOLUTION is science, creation is religion and never the twain shall meet – even in school.
February 1st, 2013 at 3:31
Evolution is science, creation is religion and never the twain shall meet – even in school.
February 1st, 2013 at 8:43
I think you were right the first time
February 1st, 2013 at 9:42
Even a blind squirrel gets an occasional acorn.
February 1st, 2013 at 15:43
Technically it is a theory. It may not be completely correct, but as science finds more evidence the theory will evolve. I once heard a crackpot on tv postulating that all of the dinasaur bones were a hoax planted by atheists. I cannot even fathom the sheer volume of people and money required for such an endeavor. But, I wonder how many people believed him. Scary.
February 1st, 2013 at 16:12
Gravity is a theory too, but even the most ardent Christians take the stairs instead of stepping off balconies.
February 1st, 2013 at 18:51
Worse yet, Bruce, gravity isn’t even a particularly good theory, beyond the naked eye level. In the last 100 years or so it has been superseded by, in order, Special and General Relativity, Quantum Mechanics, the Standard Model, String and Super-String theories.
Still, I would encourage the Christians to take the balcony route, particularly above the third floor.
February 1st, 2013 at 19:03
Scientifically speaking theory is regarded as fact. Natural selection, as scientific theory, is widely accepted as fact by nearly all of the scientific community.
Evolutioin is fact! Evidence that Evolution is a fact is available to all people everywhere. Whether it be viewing the rock strata as you drive on a highway through the mountains, or you visit a natural history museum, or for knowing that breeders of plants and animals can select for traits (artificial selection). We know with 100% certainty living things evolve.
The theory part of the Fact of Evolution pertains specifically to Natural Selection. It is widely accepted that what drives evolution is natural selection. That’s the theory. Natural selection explains evolution. There is no question that we evolve, it is theorized that natural selection is what drives evolution.
Scientific Hypothesis
Scientific Law
Scientific Theory
Scientifically speaking gravity is a scientific “law”. The difference between “theory” and “law”, scientifically speaking, is that we have all kinds of evidence and understanding of “how “theory” works”.
Gravity, and other scientific laws, are thing we know to be true but can’t explain why they are true.
For Instance: We know when when we drop a rock on earth that it falls to the ground. It falls every single time without regard to whether the rock was dropped 235,000 years ago, 2,000 years ago, or right now. We have observed this so many times we treat it as fact, but we don’t really understand why it falls, we don’t really understand how gravity works.
Creationism is a hypothesis, scientifically speaking. Essentially an explanation of something. Possible one of many. In order for a hypothesis to become a theory it requires evidence, lots and lots of evidence. It requires considerable validation from the scientific community, far and wide.
You simply can’t point to one book, that has its core stories rewritten and changed through translation many times over the centuries, with multiple contradictions and inaccuracies. You can’t even say that collectively multiple religious doctrines stand as any kind of evidence because there is so much disagreement between the doctrines of the many faiths. Hypothesis is essentially a guess.
So as to today’s quote “Evolution is a simple fact…” Paul a Kirby is completely accurate in her statement.
And as to the larger point she was trying to make “…facts are facts, and will not go away…” she has a valid point.
February 2nd, 2013 at 15:59
TH,
Technically, it is a theory AND a fact.
February 2nd, 2013 at 16:00
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_as_fact_and_theory
February 3rd, 2013 at 1:26
Paula is awesome!