ok, i realize all of this was posted more than a year ago, but for the sake of the record, i have to simply mention something about evolution, as it is (well, was) being repeatedly mischaracterized in some people's (read: lipster's) posts.
evolution is not just a theory, at least not in the way the word is being used on this thread. we know that evolution happened. if you walk out of your house in the morning and there's snow on the ground, that means it snowed. you don't need to limit yourself to theorizing that it snowed. coming to immediate conclusions based on evidence, that's just good old-fashioned science. coming up with an explanation that unites known phenomena and proposes an answer as to how they work, that's a theory.
darwin's theory of evolution - that is, that evolution occurred through natural selection - is a theory. it takes the known fact of evolution, provided by archaeological record, and presents a theoretical model to explain its mechanism. the theory of evolution through natural selection unites known phenomena - evolution, death and reproduction - to provide a possible mechanism for evolution. natural selection occurs, that much is clear (strong animals live and weak ones die), but it's still only a theory that natural selection was the only force behind evolution. another mechanism could have been the interference of a god or superintelligent alien.
the argument of atheists is simply that either natural selection is probably sufficient to explain evolution in and of itself; or, if it's not, then that it certainly isn't necessary to propose the existance of a god to explain the rest. the scientific thing to do would be to say "we don't know" and attempt to find out more; not say, "it was god", so we don't need to study it any further. scientists certainly aren't settling with "it was natural selection".
evolution is not just a theory, at least not in the way the word is being used on this thread. we know that evolution happened. if you walk out of your house in the morning and there's snow on the ground, that means it snowed. you don't need to limit yourself to theorizing that it snowed. coming to immediate conclusions based on evidence, that's just good old-fashioned science. coming up with an explanation that unites known phenomena and proposes an answer as to how they work, that's a theory.
darwin's theory of evolution - that is, that evolution occurred through natural selection - is a theory. it takes the known fact of evolution, provided by archaeological record, and presents a theoretical model to explain its mechanism. the theory of evolution through natural selection unites known phenomena - evolution, death and reproduction - to provide a possible mechanism for evolution. natural selection occurs, that much is clear (strong animals live and weak ones die), but it's still only a theory that natural selection was the only force behind evolution. another mechanism could have been the interference of a god or superintelligent alien.
the argument of atheists is simply that either natural selection is probably sufficient to explain evolution in and of itself; or, if it's not, then that it certainly isn't necessary to propose the existance of a god to explain the rest. the scientific thing to do would be to say "we don't know" and attempt to find out more; not say, "it was god", so we don't need to study it any further. scientists certainly aren't settling with "it was natural selection".
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