Why don't religious people understand that in science, a theory is something that is built on factual evidence

Question

Dictionary definition of theory:

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.

Why do creationists keep saying that evolution is theory rather than fact when by definition, a theory is based on facts?

Jessica...Are you serious? Have you ever heard of a branch of science called geology?

Answer 1

But it is still not a fact.
Theory=abstract thought : SPECULATION


Darwin is still a theory and not proven fact as of yet
until the missing link is "Found" then it is a theory

Elementary Schooling

Answer 2

OK first of all the word theory can have many meanings depending on the context in which the word is used. In science, the most accurate definitions do not come from a standard dictionary, but rather a scientific dictionary, like Houghton Mifflin Company, which defines "theory" as:

"In science, an explanation or model that covers a substantial group of occurrences in nature and has been confirmed by a substantial number of experiments and observations. A theory is more general and better verified than a hypothesis. (See Big Bang theory, evolution, and relativity.)"

So, onto my actual answer ... creationists (not myself) say that evolution is theory rather than fact, because they looked it p in a scientific dictionary. Evolution is not a matter of solid fact, such as gravity. It is a theory, which began as a hypothesis, just as creationism is currently a hypothesis.

Anyway, enough of the semantics. How bout politics ... If people and organisations point out to the world that evolution is theory rather than fact (true statement), they bring people down from their pedastool in order to bring doubt into the minds of people who believe in the theory of evolution, and by doing so it brings everyone down a knotch. This way, the people that were still sitting on the fence with the belief that evolution was fact, drop down a knotch too, into perhaps believing that creationism is a theory just as much as evolution is. If that person is sold on the idea, they convert to Christianity, and the religion has one more soul to do with as they please. And the christian faith has been manufactured so that when you fall off the fence, you never get back on. Some people walk through the fence, to the other side, fedup with their lies, but most remain trapped in a spiralling cycle of dependency on the church, and confession, and absolving themself of sin, etc, etc.

It is very difficult to get someone to understand something if their faith requires of them to not understand it!!!!!!!!

Answer 3

Good old scientists. They are never wrong. Their beliefs, especially ones that have been repeatedly tested or widely accepted and can be used to make predictions about natural phenomena, are never wrong. That is why everything scientists believed last year still applies today. Or last decade. Or even last century, or the centuries before that. Because science is never, ever wrong, as long as the theory has been repeatedly tested...
*goes out to watch the sun revolve around the earth, look at only 109 elements in the periodic table, study the nine planets of our solar system, and not treat my peptic ulcer as a virus*

Answer 4

We do not dispute the definition of the word theory. What we take offense to is that evolution claims to have any verifiable facts to support its theory. I don't have to keep reading the same, worn-out claims made by evolution in one website that get totally demolished in another website. Where are all these skeletal remains that posit a theoretical conception of a shift or transition from so-called homo-erectus to homo-sapiens? I keep reading that evolution is happening daily all around us. Where? Why is it a fact that in order to gain public acceptance of the theory that its proponents would stoop to such a deception as gluing moths to trees so they cannot move while supposedly changing colors to "prove" the "ongoing" process of evolution? If you don't believe me, the following link is provided for your inspection.

www.trueorigin.org

I don't care what you or anyone else may think. Show me verifiable and legitimate proof of the occurence of evolution as an ongoing process, and you might get my attention. That is, after I subject said "proof" to rigorous and scientific scrutiny by a jury of its peers. Two sides to every coin and all that.

Answer 5

"Based upon fact" is the key here.. just like movies are "based upon real events"...

Someday you will learn enough science to find out that once a theory has been PROVEN to be true that it becomes a LAW.. like the LAW of Gravity...

Most evolutionists believe that just because they find fossilized bones in the ground that it is proof that animal walked the earth at some time.. well.. it is NOT PROOF.. it is theory, conjecture, musings.. in order for it to be proof we would need to study the fossils and then make one JUST LIKE it from living animals.. but we can't.. for all we know the fossils were created in the ground by God and there were never any living dinosaurs.. or perhaps they were created at artwork by some ancient civilization and they got buried somehow.. we don't KNOW...

Fill two balloons with helium.. release one from the ground and then fly up in a plane and release the second one next to the first in the air (ignore air turbulence caused by the plane).. and then ask an evolutionist where the balloons came from.. and you will get "it came from X"... instead of "I believe that it came from X".. no doubts.. SCIENCE PROVES that it came from that spot on the ground.. wind currents.. lift of the helium.. etc.. it is PROOF!!.. when in fact one of them was released in the air and not on the ground.

Answer 6

Look at you definition again. "repeatedly tested or widely accepted" does not equate to fact. Pay attention here, evolution is not even a theory and has absolutely no evidence for support. All of evolution rests on the "assumed ages" assigned to the differing layers of the "supposed" geologic column. This imaginary geologic column was "supposed" around 1830. It is nowhere found in nature and lives only in the textbooks. No intermediate (transitional) fossils have been found to date. And, no artifact has been dated more than 5,500 years without much dispute. Evolution is a fairy tale at best.
And, you can quote me on that-

Answer 7

because a theory is based on a gathering of facts

if the gathering of facts always resulted in an accurate final fact, then no one accused before a court of law would ever be innocent now would they.

evidence does not always prove something to be true. sometimes it's just circumstantial

as far as evolution vs creation, people choose to believe what they want to believe and what evidence to include. Period.

Answer 8

They like to bend the definition of the word "theory" to suit their purposes. They won't acknowledge that the scientific definition of the word "theory" is different than what they try to make it sound like. They like being able to say "it's JUST a 'theory' ". You can tell them until you're blue in the face--they KNOW it, they just won't acknowledge it.

Answer 9

I once read a science book written 100 years ago that stated if a man traveled 50 miles an hour , his heart would stop and he would die. Now this was theory because no one had ever traveled that fast.

Scientific Theory is turned over frequently. Fact is proven , theory is not. If theory was proven , it wouldn't be theory , it would be fact.

We understand more than you know.

Answer 10

If evolution was a fact or even close to being a fact, there would be no argument. But because it is pure speculation based on men's preconceived ideas of his existence and is completely unprovable, then I will take my form of faith over your faith.

Answer 11

You're asking them to change their minds about one of the cornerstones of their "argument." Oh you optimistic monkey you!

Everyone knows a theory is the same as an hypothesis, and, in the end, the square of the hypothesis is equal to the love you make, right? Simple!