Atheists answer this: Since evolution is true is that why the pepper moth evolved?

Answer 1

"Mutation, and natural selection due to environment suitability. " - Adam T (see above)

I'd just like to point out that there wasn't any mutation. There were already black moths and white once. It was just a change in that ratio (after the soot was cleaned off, btw, the ratio went back to normal)

Answer 2

I'm a little bothered by your question. It's kind of like "Since Newton was right, is that why we fall to the ground?"

Evolution was going on long before anybody discovered it. So the pepper moth (which some say never actually evolved, it was a temporary thing) may have evolved to fit into it's niche better, but it didn't do that b/c "evolution is true".

Answer 3

Treating evolution like some Platonic form is not the right way to go about things.

Evolution is how we describe what happened to the peppered moth. It's the same thing that happens to other populations, as well. Environmental pressures cause the frequency of certain alleles in a population to shift, because those pressures favor a certain trait. This much can be quantified.

Asking your question is like asking if the sky is blue because the "sky is blue" theory is true. The theory describes what happens (and makes predictions about what else we can expect to observe--correct predictions, in evolution's case, and lots of them).

Answer 4

You don't have to be an atheist to think that evolution is the best supported and most likely explination.

There is no reason "why" the pepper moth evolved, in that sense. It evolved according to the requirements of its environment.

Answer 5

If you are talking about the pepper moth that I think you are, I'm not sure that it is evolution in the specific example of black as opposed to white. I seem to recall that there was a population shift towards or away from black depending upon the industrialization in the locale, but I'm not sure that it was considered over a long enough period to be usable necessarily as evidence of evolution. Rather, I think it was a short-term inability to camouflage under changing circumstances.

Answer 6

No. The pepper moth evolved because there was an ecological niche for it to fill.

Monica hit the nail on the head. I vote she has the best answer.

Answer 7

Well, not sure what is up with pepper moths, but if it evolved, then yeah I guess that would be evolution.

Answer 8

Although I just recently read that this scientific example is not as true as we originally learned, the story is that:
1: pepper moths are either white or dark gray
2. when tree bark was white, the gray ones stood out and were seen and eaten
3: so there were more white ones to reproduce
4: after pollution, the tree bark was dark and the white ones stood out, were seen and eater
5: so there were more dark ones to reproduce
There are varieties in the color just like we have varieties in hair color. you'll still get some of the odd ones surviving and reproducing to keep the varieties in color around.

Answer 9

The pepper moth came from the salt slug which begat the paprika worm which begat the Hidden Valley Ranch catapiller which begat the pepper moth.

Easy

Answer 10

There's some debate as to whether its evolution was a result of natural selection or predation by birds.

And BTW, a "theory" is not something that is unproven; it's a set of statements or principles devised to explain a group of facts or phenomena, especially one that has been repeatedly tested or is widely accepted and can be used to make predictions about natural phenomena.

Hence, the "theory" of relativity, the "theory" of gravity.

Answer 11

ohh i did a debate on this a few weeks ago the athists answer is that the moth had no need to evolove it was perfectly happy as it was.....evolution is the mistake of mistaking adaption for evloution. and darwin became a christian before he died and denounced all his beliefs!