Why fear evolution?

[Rouger2]

Originally Posted by Kytro

Not exactly.

From Wiki, emphasis added:

Well then a law is established fact until it is disproven while a theory is not completely proven.

[Kytro]

Originally Posted by Rouger2

Well then a law is established fact until it is disproven while a theory is not completely proven.

Well as it says theories and laws are related but different things.

From Wiki:

The concept of a scientific law is closely related to the concept of a scientific theory. A scientific law attempts to describe an observation in nature while a scientific theory attempts to explain it.

In other words, laws are what happened, theories are why.

A good example is gravity. The law is the observation that gravity exists, the theory is how it works. Theory isn't proven, but to reach the status of a theory it must have significant data backing the position.

In science a theory isn't the same as "I have a theory". Theories are not established without proof.

[Dylith]

Originally Posted by 7960

That's pretty much the textbook definition of agnostic.

Or a weak/soft atheist which is what I classify myself as. I use to classify myself as an agnostic for the very same reasons you called dispatcher an agnostic, but I wasn't really being correct in the sense that agnostics usually believe that a God exists, but that man has little to no understanding of it.

It could really go either way, but I stick with the term atheist, because even though I think that there is a possibility that I could be wrong, I don't believe in any specific or even genral concept of a diety.

[Dispatcher]

Originally Posted by 7960

Dispatcher, what's your number on the 7pt scale?

Do to recent events in my life, I would say I have gone from a 5 or 6 to a 2.
And maybe I never was a true atheist. I have always thought that to be 100% atheist or 100% Christian was to be narrow minded.
I do believe in God now. I still don't understand God yet, and maybe I never will until I die. But I still think that a lot of religions and denominations are just wrong. They have taken one part of the bible out of context and made it their mantra, or believe in something altogether different. Christians, Jews, and Muslims all believe in something different.
Somebody is wrong. I'm afraid we will have to wait until we die to find out the truth. And the truth, to me, is the only thing that matters.

[Schrödinger's Cat]

Originally Posted by Rhianann

Science is based on fact. Religion is not. If it's not totally proven then it's a "theory". I do believe they still refer to it as the theory of evolution. It's the most logical explanation so far.

Scientific theories aren't just what many people refer to colloquially as a "theory", and there is much confusion about that. For instance, scientific theories need evidence and must be falsifiable.

The main problem with ID (or anything with a deity) is it isn't falsifiable, therefore unscientific. To say that there are gaps in our knowledge is blatant, but then to say that we must fill those gaps with a god, because that is the only explanation, is completely irrational. The problem you have in America is not a difference of opinion, but denial or ignorance of outright scientific fact. This is not just evolution, but it also deals with many theories of science; evolution only gets caught in the cross hairs more often. Consider the fact that 60% of Republicans, 40% of Independents and 38% of Democrats believe that the world is no more than 10,000 years old (according to a recent poll). That isn't differing in scientific theories, it is tossing out science altogether. This is completely detrimental to the future of our country. How can we expect to compete with other nations?

Good conversation so far though.