Why do many people think evolution is a fact?

Question

It is the THEORY of evolution after all. Is this because of the way it is presented in the media and in schools?

This is a serious question. Where is the evidence?
and why is it presented as being the truth when it has not been proven?

Answer 1

yes of course it is. The liberal media and our schools are pushing the theory as fact. Right from kindergarten books on dinosaurers (millions of years ago....) through university (the world IS 6 billion years old.....) pure rubbish when it comes to real science. no one was there to witness it - it can't be proven as fact, therefore it is a religion of faith.

Answer 2

Because it is a a fact. The evidence is in the source part of this. In science, something can be a theory and a fact at the same time; that is the way gravity works. Religious folks like yourself think that theory = "a good guess based on some observation or a possible way it might be explained" when in fact what you think of "theory" is what is a hypothesis in science. A theory is something that has been overly tested and attempted to be falsified, it is as pretty much like a law in certain cases except a law is something that can be summed up easily like e = mc2 and a theory explains a multitude of events.

What is disputed in science is certain steps in evolution (like did one animal have fingers before the arm grew or after?), but the fact that animals evolve from different species and that we are all related in some way is a fact that is indisputable that has been proven through genetics and the fossil record.

Answer 3

Have you ever heard the saying, "If you tell a lie loud enough and long enough people will start to believe it?" Hitler said that and look what he did. Today schools teach that there is no God and evolution is true. When you hear that all those years you are in school you just assume it is truth. Honestly, when ever someone is asked to point out a "contradiction" in the bible, they can't. They just heard there was one in there from someone else and just repeat what they heard. It's the same thing for evolution. They are just repeating what they heard.

We should have patience with them though because where would we be if no one told us the truth? What is even more sad is some times non believers will ask some GOOD honest questions that non believers cannot answer because they never spend time in the word. The non believer will ask this question to many believers and get the same basic answers, well it's in there(the bible) some where, or I heard a preacher once say, or my parents told me.

It's sad to say many Christians try to get people to believe in a God they hardly even know themselves. As a non believer I think it would be hard to become passionate about a God, whos followers don't even seem to be that impressed with Him.

Answer 4

In the scientific world, the word "theory" actually means something quite different than it does in layman's terms. A theory in science is: "a plausible or scientifically acceptable general principle or body of principles offered to explain phenomena" In other words - in layman's language - it's a law. This society has a tendency to be polarized, for everyone to take one extreme of the issue. Neither one is, in my opinion, the truth, acceptable, something I believe. Years ago, I was on a field trip with a biology professor (who has a Ph.D.) and bombarded him with questions. One was about evolution. He said that it's preposterous to accept either extreme, that all scientific evidence does indeed NOT proove either creationism (a doctrine or theory holding that matter, the various forms of life, and the world were created by God out of nothing and usually in the way described in Genesis) nor evolution of man from apes. He does, however, believe that there is evidence of some evolution but minor such as the horse was two feet tall millions of years ago. My view lies somewhere in the middle, not on one extreme end or the other where 98% of the public will gather.

Answer 5

Well, the evidence is in. The fossil record pretty well speaks for itself. This does not, however automatically rule out the actions of a Creator. The Old Testament states that God created the heavens and the Earth in SEVEN DAYS.... However later in the same book, It states that God does not count time the way we do, and that we are incapable of understanding time in the way that He can. God created the world and all in it, including man, according to His timetable, THROUGH evolution. Isn' that a theory of evolution BOTH sides can live with?

Answer 6

I think what you mean is why do people think that man evolved from apes. Evolution is an observable process and can be simulated to show new species. There's more than one type of evolution (linear and provisional, provisional being what most people recognize as natural selection) and they also lead to emergence. People like to use evolution as an argument against creationsim, however it's all subject to what your vision of these thing are.

Emergence is most relevent in the argument of evolution vs creationism, as it is used to explain observable phenomena that show up as big leaps in evolution. Simply put they are the unpredictable creation of new systems. Emergence can't be created or forced like evolution in a simulation, only fostered. Emergence could also be used to explain the development of consciousness in humans as well as the development of the universe and even the God of creationism. Right now emergence is the greatest hope for the development of artificial intelligence.

In the end it really all depends on what your idea of God is. I'm talking about God, not religion -- the difference being an individual's personal and spiritual relationship with what they perceive as their creator versus religion which is a set of rules defining a social control system.

If you've seriously thought about God and all of the aspects of a higher power and it's interaction with the universe, then you have the tools to ask and answer enough what if questions to have a solid foundation to form an argument for creationism argue.

Your argument for the existence of God and creationsim is only as good as your argument against it. I personally recognize that a God that created the universe would have also created the laws of physics and would not be bound by them. That simply means evolution is just another creation and a tool/process/method of God.

I also recognize religion is a social control mechanism for masses to practice their spirituality together as social beings. Religions are ultimately a means to maintain and propogate a certain vision of God and God's plan for man.

Answer 7

MICRO-evolution IS a fact. see a dog breed listing, or seed breeds listing, stuff like that... at the "micro" level, it is an absolute proven fact.

the question is wether everything could develop through this proven means or if that degree of change is beyond the scope of what it can do.

and you also don't seem to understand what "theory" means in a scientific sense, and you are mistaking it for a "hypothosis" a scientific theory is NEARLY a law. but the fact that ultimately its unprovable as an origin concept, (nothing is provable for that...)

Answer 8

If you understand the concepts of heredity, natural selection, and survival of the fittest you will realize that evolution happens and is observable. Darwin explained it by his studies on the Galapagos islands. I'm not going to try to explain his studies to you if you haven't already learned them, but you should go back and study them if you didn't allow your brain to absorb them due to certain filters you may have.

Now, no one can observe the entire process that lead up to our genus of Homo Sapien, but by studying fossils we can see that there are species that existed before us that may well be our ancestors. So, evolution of humans from non-human ancestors is still a theory that has some fossil support that is up to scientists' interpretation.

Just because some people can't comprehend the millions upon millions of adaptations that produced a fruit that was easy to peel and great for human consumption, or that an eye was adapted from a nerve ending that was sensitive to light, doesn't mean that some invisible spaghetti monster (or subsitute your own unknown creation) made it.

Love and take care of the world and people around you, it took billions of years to create what you see now.

Answer 9

Evolution is a theory. Scientific theories are the most powerful tools we have for prediction and explanation. Theories cover facts and laws. Evolution is testable, predictive, and falsifiable. It is one of the most well-supported theories out there.

But hey, don't take my word for it. After all, gravity is just a theory, right? You could jump off a tall building and be fine. It's not a fact you'll fall at 9.8 m/s^2, right? Oh right, it is. Because graviatational theory contains facts, like evolution - and one of those facts is the force of gravity at the surface of the Earth.

Answer 10

The theory of evolution is that of a common ancestor to apes. The fact of evolution is that gene pools change over time. The tuberculosis virus has evolved to become resistant to our early treatments. This has been studied, observed, recorded and is now FACT. Evolution is fact. the theory is that humans evolved from a common ancestor to apes. If you don't believe in evolution, then you don't believe the tuberculosis virus has changed.

Answer 11

CHEEZUS H. Krighst, how many times to I have to answer this before you people get it?
Evolution is not a theory, it is a real mechanism of how living things adapt to their environment. There is a theory that describes it.
If you draw a picture of a horse, does that mean that a horse is just a piece of paper?
NO!!
Religion IS a theory. THAT'S WHY THEY CALL IT "THEOLOGY"!!
There is no real mechanism other than the theological discussion. You can get some bacteria and see the mechanism of evolution in just a few generations. You cannot go out and show yourself or anyone else, a GOD!!