Do you believe in the theory of evolution??

Question

please include logical justifications whether you agree or disagree with this theory...thanks :)

Answer 1

Yes I do. My logical justification is based entirely on empirical evidence only. That is, that evidence of evolution is before us and we need only to use our sense of sight to see the facts. One can also argue that the senses are "corrupt" or that there is a "reality" beyond our senses but I think that evolution is justifiable and is a good theory simply because I am able to "see" proof of it.

The human hand, the wing of the bat and the flippers of pinguins all have the same "hand span" type structure. I, myself cannot go further to explain evolution but that structure can possibly mean that perhaps we have evolved from different species. ALSO, the theory of evolution by "natural selection" is also very convincing because as "food supply" is our numbered by species, only the species that get to the food or "adapt" to their surroundings have a better chance of surviving. Therefore only the "fittest" survive. Nature because it is limited can only provide so much for the species around it....that species must fight for food or are forced to adapt to it's surroudings (find another form of food) and evolve

Anyway, I think Darwin was quite intellegent.....Here's something interesting. On Darwin's wedding night, he spent that night with his wife studying evolution

Answer 2

Evolution is a fact. Whether Darwin's or anyone else's theory of evolution is correct for all ages is another question. At present the Darwin theory as modified by more recent knowledge is the best we have. However that does not mean it it is the best we will ever have. The recent ability to obtain genetic information rapidly and relatively cheaply means that some aspects of biology are going to be revised. Darwin's theory or the present version of it may take a beating, but in my guess is not likely to be entirely overturned.

Answer 3

Yes, I believe in the theory of evolution. The theory of evolution is that there is a process of natural selection which causes changes in the characteristics of a species to better adapt to their environment.

The first question to be answered is whether it is possible to change the characteristics of a species by selective reproduction at all. There is a wealth of documented evidence of animal husbandry, and also with plant species. Different varieties of dogs, cows, sheep and other domestic animals have been created, mostly within recorded history, deliberately by breeders using selection.

The next question to answer is whether this could happen naturally, without human interference. It's tempting to reverse this - why WOULDN'T it happen? However, there are many examples, including those provided by Darwin, which show that isolated groups of animals (on islands for example) have different characteristics. Of course it could be that a creator simply thought it would be fun to create slight variations on the species on each island. But it just seems a lot more likely to me that they started out as one species and gradually acquired the slight differences through a process of selection.

Next there's the archaeological evidence. Whilst it's certainly true that mistakes have been made and sometimes people have been too eager to find evidence of "missing links" etc, there are still a very large number of very well preserved and clearly identifiable fossils and other remains which indicate that in the past some animals were slightly different that they are now. For example horses were a lot smaller. Now whilst it's possible that by some fluke only the remains of small horses have remained and there were in fact larger horses around all the time, it just doesn't seem very likely. and the same is true for hundreds of other species.

Lastly, think of the advancements we have made in science in the 150 years since Darwin formed his theory of natural selection. Almost all of our scientific understanding from 1860 has subsequently been found to be either incorrect, or only partially true - Newton's Laws were superseded by Einstein, then by Heisenberg and others; our understanding of chemistry is now radically different; almost all scientific theory has undergone a series of revisions as advancements in technology permitted new experiments. The science of biology has not been an exception - think of the changes in medicine - there's even a whole new science of genetics. Now remember that almost all scientists want to leave a legacy - they want to be the one who discovered the new subatomic particle, or discovered the cure for cancer, or whatever. Yet in all that time there has been not one single discovery which has raised the smallest question mark on the theory of natural selection. On the contrary, every new discovery has been entirely consistent with the theory and they have often helped us to better understand the details of how it works.

Finally, what about the dinosaurs? There's a novel called The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy where the plot involves the earth having been specially made to order by a company of planetary engineers, who deliberately buried the fossils to make the earth seem older. Do you really think God was "having a laugh"? Did he really bury all that stuff just so we could puzzle over what it meant?

I actually do believe in God, incidentally, and as others have said I see absolutely no contradiction between that belief and my belief that the creation myth is just that.

Answer 4

First,For some answerers, how on earth believing in evolution is going to deny god.
I believe the theory, though it has some flaws,specially around human evolution, which i think will soon be answered.
The theory is one of the most intelligent ones in science history. I think it equals the quantum mechanics theory in physics.
although it suggests that the creation is but some accidental phenomena, it also shows us the great rules which posses the accidents to a reasoned aim. the basic rules of physics (like the general theory and equation of relativity) are aiming the accidental movements to the highly organized universe. So as the rules of evolution, to the highly organized living organisms.
Doesn't it show the great power of the creator, making the highly organized and intelligent organism called human with just a few rules?

Answer 5

Yes, I do. This is not a religious question, so I won't bring my faith into it. I accept the theory of evolution as a constantly evolving (no pun intended) explanation of how evolution happens because there is no doubt that it actually does happen. Some verifiable instances of evolutionary change are antibiotic resistant bacteria, genetic engineering (which utilizes what we know about evolution to get a desired result), hybridization, and divergent evolution. There are NO verifyable instance of a deity or any other uber-being poofing humans or any other animal into existence.

Answer 6

Presumably people who don't believe in evolution don't believe in MRSA (a superbug that has evolved immunity to most antibiotics), the HIV virus (evolved from SIV - the chimpanzee version), that humans are sometimes born with tails (generally removed at birth nowadays)... I could go on, but I won't because I wasn't going to answer this question at all, as the debate is not really about evolution (there is no real debate), but about religion.

I was forced to reply because of somebody's comment that 'there is no real evidence for intermediate species'. This shows a profound ignorance of the theory of evolution. Intermediate between what? Humans are an intermediate species between what we were and what we will be. The boundaries between species have been decided by humans, often with great difficulty.

If you really want to see a startling animal that looks like an intermediate one to our eyes, look at mudskippers. These are fish that can walk over land and breath air.

Here is a good link explaining why the difference between species is not always as clear cut as people think: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_species

Answer 7

I do "believe in" the theory of evolution. "Believe in" is a loaded phrase. My justifications for agreeing with the theory of evolution is this:

Evolution makes sense to me because of everything I've read and learned and studied, like the quanta, particle physics, Superstring Theory, cosmology, and the fascinating universe we live in, how things evolve on the large scale and on the small scale. They evolve.

If someone can look through a good telescope into deep space and not trust their eyes or disregard volume of knowledge that has been gathered on what it is that that someone is actually looking at, then how can I explain evolution to them?

The contrary theory for evolution, like the creationist's 6,000 year old theory, is even more absurd when you look at how collosal the disparity is between what is estimated by astronomers to be the age of our universe and a creationist's 6,000 year old theory. It's like, in the words of Richard Dawkins, saying that the distance from San Francisco to New York is not 2,500 miles, it's 7.8 yards.

Answer 8

Yes I do. AND I am a Catholic. I do not feel that this is contradictory either. I do not believe that God created the world in 7 days, I believe that the Creation story is just that, a story that explains that God started everything. Scientists and atheists get stuck when trying to explain what happened before the Big Bang part of their theory. If the universe used to be just compressed mass, what else was there? And if the universe is still expanding, what is beyond it's limits? It can't expand if there is no where to expand.

So, yes, I believe in evolution. Humans didn't just appear out of nowhere. God set things in motion, and His plan called for humans to develop and evolve when the time was right.

Answer 9

One does not "believe in" evolution. Evolution is a material process, an algorithm that has been scientifically proven to exist and to work. To deny it, is very similar logically to denying that water does flow downhill. One only "believes in" theories of exactly how it has actually occurred on Earth in the past, where we can't make direct observations.

Answer 10

Yes but i also belive that without god evolution would never happen i think it goes like this

God created the universe
the universe created earth
then come the naturaly ocurring plants and single celled spicies
single celled spicies lead to animals
then comes the homo sapiens from primates

this was gods plan