This “debate” always drives me crazy. First of all, as a science major in my fourth year , I can assure you I have a fairly good understanding of the basic tenents of evolution.
Interestingly, in my first year of university we had to do a paper on creationism, so that we would know that what it is ect. I was very interested in this topic and I am fascinated by religion as well, and have taken many classes throughout the years from Islam, Christianity to Buddhism, general religion ect. And I have come to understand it all this way:
Science and religion are exclusive. They exist to explain and deal with two completely different realms or types of knowledge. Steven J Gould wrote an incredible book on this topic called “rocks of ages”. Mr Gould was one of the most important scientists of this century, and he makes an inargueable case for what I am going to summarize. So anyone who is really interested in this should definately read his book.
His basic idea is what I had mentioned previously, that science and religion exist to deal with two totally different realms. Science opperates purely to explain the physical and natural world around us and it uses a universal tool called the scientific method. If you want to investigate or answer something in science, you use this tool. This ensures that findings are repeatable and observable to everyone who has the technology AND knowledge to check things out.
That is why all scientific papers must be peer reviewed. You dont just “find” something, publish it and then voila…everyone agrees. It is tested over and over and over and over , scientists all over use the method to try and find holes in a new discovery. This is how science opperates. Evolutionary theory has been tested from EVERY scientific angle and yet not only does it hold but every time a new technology developes, or a new field of science expands, it provides more support for the theory. Genetics added a whole new angle to the theory, explaining HOW “fitness” is passed on.
Biochemistry and all the technology attached to it has allowed us to study proteins(the building blocks of life) in such detail that we can now “map” organisms genomes and find the similiarities and differences between us and other animals. Geology, physics…you name it, these fields strengthen the theory. There are no holes in it. These “holes” you read about come from some baptist preist who has decided he is now an evolutionary biologist and that he must “publish” a paper on the internet. There is NO debate about the legitamacy of the theory within the scientific community!!!.
There are debates about certain miniscule aspects of it but they are not actually debating the theory itself. I think that is important to understand. I was once told that “without evolutionary theory, nothing in all of biology would make sense”. This is exactly true. Every science class I have taken, I have marvelled at how evolutionary theory underlies every concept. In biochemisty, I marvel at how certian hemaglobins evolved differently in certain species and how this allows them life. In physiology…well evolution is everything. Form to function. And I am being serious here.
As for religion, it covers the realms of the supernatural. While religion does deal with many non supernatural things(human interelations ect), it’s entire existance is based on faith and faith supports all understanding of the supernatural. Faith is the key ingredient and the key to religious knowledge, like the scientific method is to science. Faith cannot and should not EVER enter into science (notice how it is NOT one of the steps in the scientific method?).
Just as science cannot expain miraculous or supernatural events, religion cannot be used to investigate natural ones. It falls short because it oversteps its realm. In science, you MUST adhere to the scientific method, just as in religion, you must have faith.
And this is where the problem stems from. People do not understand the limits of each. Anyone who believes in creationism(and yes, it requires faith) clearly is lacking a basic understanding of science and its method. There is not ONE scientist in this world that is accepted by the scientific community that adheres to the creationsist beleif system. It is not science, it is not grounded in science, it evades the scientific method. PERIOD. Do you notice how science does not attempt to say wether or not god exists, or wether or not there are or are not miracles. Science knows its buisness. It knows these are out of its realm, and it doesn’t attempt them. (at least real scientists that belong to the scientific community DO NOT).
So when you see people who are CLEARLY not scientists trying to “prove” something without adhereing to the scientific method you have got to laugh. At least us scientists do because it’s truly a joke AND it is laughable. And people who buy this bs make me laugh as well. WHY on earth, if you wanted to learn about science would you ask your priest? Come on people. If I want to know what is wrong with my knee after my horse kicked it, do I go to my librarian and ask her and take her opinion for gospel? NOOOO. I should hope not anyways, as it certainly won’t help me. It is the same here. People don’t ask for help understanding the bible from their Bio prof. So why would you look to religion to explain science? I just don’t get that.
Religion and science can exist side by side but they do not overlap. It doesn’t have to be one or the other because they are not even adressing the same things…see? So when you say, I believe in evolution…you are assuming that it is a belief system, like relgion …which as I explained previously…it is not. When you say that you believe both work together, you need to brush up on your basic understanding of science. If you understand the basics of science, it is absolutly impossible to comprehend creationism from a scientific perspective.
Those of you throwing out the links to the silly creationism site for “evidence” please, do yourself a favor and really educate yourself. Go to a SCIENCE based source that is peer reviewed and read it, read about what science is. When you have learned about science, then you can make your decision about what you can or cannot comprehend, and if in fact, you still see no fault in creationism, you clearly did not comprehend the basic tenents of science. When you have no understanding of science, how can you say that you disagree with evolutionary theory, a massive scientific concept? You just cannot. And it is very very foolish to believe that you can.
kyla
