: Hey, Gideon,: I'd like your reaction to these statements.
: "The fact of evolution is the backbone of biology,
: and biology is thus in the peculiar position of being a
: science founded on an unproved theory--
Wrong. It depends on how stringent your criteria for proof are; but there are many sciences founded on unproved theories; ballistics, gravity, flight, space science, electromagnetic theory, chemistry and any other science you care to mention.
Every scientific theory is open to revision, whether it be the theory of gravity or the theory of evolution. In the absence of evidence proving the theory to be wrong, it is assumed to be the truth; or a truth solid enough to base a framework on.
: is it then a
: science of a faith? Belief in the theory of evolution is
: thus exactly parallel to belief in special creation --
: both are concepts which believers know to be true but
: neither, up to the present, has been capable of
: proof."
No it isn't. I've given you a link recording five examples of evolution in action. Here it is again
Evolution deals *only* with the measureable and ongoing process; thus, you can prove it to be untrue; or prove the alternatives to be untrue by doing experiments in the physical world; these experiments are reproducible in the presence of others and thus constitute proof.
Creation can never be falsified; since it was a single event that happened a long time ago and depends upon the existence of something that cannot be proved or disproved; and since it is not falsifiable, it is not scientific; it is a belief.
"Creation science" is an oxymoron.
: "The Theory of Evolution is no longer with us,
: because neo-Darwinism is not acknowledged as being unable
: to explain anything more than trivial change, and in
: defaulr of some other theory we have none.. despite the
: hostility of witness provided by the fossil record,
: despite the innumerable difficulties, and despite the
: lack of even a credible theory, evolution survives. Can
: there be any other area of science, for instance, in
: which a concept as intellectually barren as embryonic
: recapitulation could be used as evidence for a
: theory?"
The sky is green!
Does my saying the sky is green make the sky green?
Of course not. And neither does that propagandic paragraph doom the theory of evolution.
: Any belief in evolution is as much faith as my belief in special creation.
It is, however, a faith that relies on the demonstrable, the physical and the reproduceable.
If I jump out of a plane with a parachute, and you jump out praying, we are both placing belief in our belief systems; I in the reproduceable laws of physics, you in the personal existence of God.
You're free to believe what you want; but give me a parachute any day of the week.
: And no, I'm working on the answers to your supposed "contradictions," I haven't conceded them. I'll also be out for the Thanksgiving holidays, so who knows when I'll return. (Is that rejoicing I'm hearing from someone:)?)
Thanksgiving? What's that?
Come back whenever you want; your reasoning is still as flimsy as four-by-two.
Gideon.
