Do you believe in the theory of evolution?

Answer 1

Aristotle came up with the first theory about life on Earth and he believed that species were fixed creations arranged by their complexity, and those ideas alone lasted for 2000 years. Lamarck later discover that change occurs over a long period of time and he discovered that in the early 1800s. Finally, in 1859, Darwin published his book about his theory of evolution (On the Origin of Species by Natural Selection.) This encompassed his findings from his voyage on the HMS Beagle in 1831-36 on divergent evolution of finches on Galapagos Island and also his research in Australia.

Answer 2

The following are the opinions of some of our Contributors, along with summaries of their reasons:

• Various pressures contribute to this via natural selection, random mutation, random events, sexual selection, and several other contributors. The longer the period between generations, the harder it is to see the changes. However, simple organisms with very short lifespans and generation periods show clearly that the processes are true. For example, take the flu virus. The genes mutate in such a way that every YEAR it is different enough from the previous year that you need a whole new set of antibodies to deal with it. Of course, more complex lifeforms take even longer to show mutations. With us being one of the most complex, it only stands to reason that we would have one of the largest periods of change.

• A surprisingly recent instance of human evolution has been detected among the peoples of East Africa. It is the ability to digest milk in adulthood, conferred by genetic changes that occurred as recently as 3,000 years ago, a team of geneticists has found. The survival advantage was so powerful perhaps because those with the mutations not only gained extra energy from lactose but also, in drought conditions, would have benefited from the water in milk. People who were lactose-intolerant could have risked losing water from diarrhea.

• We can see that change and document it. Dogs can be bred into various shapes and forms. Naysayers say that "yes, and dogs look very different but they aren't different species" - well that's true. But the genetic differences between a poodle and a great dane are MINOR and FEW. The reality is that we have only been selectively breeding them for a few thousand years at most. If you kept a group of great danes and a group of poodles separate from the rest of the dogs of the world and isolated their groups for 20,000-50,000 years, or better yet, 250,000 years, I guarantee you they would be VERY different and they would NOT be able to interbreed - hence, they would be different species.

• It's not really that complicated and I don't understand why so many overzealous Christians have so much trouble with evolution. Evolution does not contradict The Bible. It only contradicts some people's interpretations of the Bible. And it is these interpretations that stand to lose to evolution, not Christianity itself. There is not one place in the Bible that says the world is 6000 years old yet some will say it is so.

• Evolution is just one of those things. It allows us to make sense of everything within the physical laws of the universe that He created. Without some kind of clear path backwards that can be applied going forward and tested and proven, we would not be able to discover diseases and correct them. We could not figure out why DDT no longer works on bedbugs. And perhaps worse of all, it would be glaringly obvious to everyone that there was a God and faith would no longer matter. So to sum this up, Evolution is just another mechanism in the world like all the others that allow us to make sense of the world and make predictions which help us solve problems. Without this process, nothing would make sense and everything would become clearly obvious that there was a God at which point faith would no longer matter and thus the reason for being here in the first place would disappear.

• Don;t be fooled by those who say "If it is a fact, why do they call it a theory?". Look up the definition of theory. A scientific theory is a "body of fact". The word "theory" is often confused by the less educated with the word "hypothesis" which is an educated guess.

• No. Evolution has been proven to be impossible many times over. Not unlikely or even really, really hard. Impossible. Which of course leaves us with the inescapable conclusion that there is a God. And with God comes rules. People don't like rules so a while back they dreamed up the whole evolution thing.

• There is plenty of evidence that evolution exists, and no one has even remotely demonstrated it is impossible.

• Many times terminology is used loosely which tends to muddy the waters in discussions of scientific questions. Strictly speaking natural selection, which Darwin observed in the Galapagos Island finches is regarded as the main mechanism together with mutations for evolution to take place. While natural selection acting on pre-existing genetic variety within a population can be observed thousands of times and is going on continuously in humans, dogs etc this is not the same as evolution. People are still people and dogs are still dogs.

• The modern science of Genetics demonstrates definite limits to changes within a type of plant or animal, beyond which the DNA of that organism will not go. A good example of this is the selective breeding of sugar beets to make them produce maximum sugar. Once the limit was reached, the sugar concentration could not be increased further. No-one denies the fact of natural selection, not even young-earth creationists, who however are certainly against evolution which is not the same and has not at all been proven.

• Living organisms can evolve. Time and time again people have demonstrated genetic mutations---substitutions (an adenine changes to a thynine, etc) and insertions/deletions (indels)---which have the potential to provide the raw material for large changes.

• If there were no mutations (or no natural mutations) why don't we all have the same DNA, especially if we all came from just 2 people (Adam and Eve). But no one has the same DNA. DNA research shows lots of differences in all sorts of ways that evolutionary theory has predicted.

• In scientific terminology, a THEORY is the highest possible postulation short of being a certainty. An idea becomes a "theory" if it is the best and most logical solution to a question that is accepted by the scientific community, has been backed up by proof and evidence from many credential sources, and can be replicated in a controlled environment.

• The theory of Evolution is good - up to one point . The theory of Evolution has proved (via old fossil evidence) that indeed species do evolve through time. Most problems occur when one attempts to apply the theory of evolution to other non-biology fields of knowledge, like philosophy. We must bear in mind that having proven that fish evolved in land animals has nothing to do with the great metaphysical questions of humanity (e.g. God can exist or not exist without that being related to evolution). One can believe to the theory of Evolution at a micro-scale (i.e. explaining the evolution of specific species etc) and STAY THERE, without trying to apply that theory to the whole universe or draw conclusions about human life purpose.
• Nobody has said that evolution explains WHY human life has developed on Earth or that there is even a reason. It is used to demonstrate HOW this happened

• No. For good reason. The fossil record contradicts it. According to evolutionary scientists themselves the fossil record does not prove evolution. Darwin saw the lack of transitional forms in the record in his day as a problem. The story has not changed despite many thousands of exhibits being discovered in the last 150 years. Species claimed as proof have often turned out to not prove what is claimed. Fossils in the wrong place and 'Polystrate fossils' which cross strata allegedly millions of years apart go against the evolutionary interpretation of the strata. The fossil record also contains many examples of 'stasis' - organisms which remain unchanged over many millions of years. Evolutionists regularly seem to find this surprising as it is not what they would expect or predict. The implications seem to be lost on them that the alleged millions of years may in fact be imaginary.

• People liken natural selection with evolution. The former is easily demonstrated to happen. Even creationists acknowledge this. The trouble is natural selection does not equal evolution. Evolution is the changing of an organism's DNA/RNA in order to remove/alter parts of the organism and how they work together (structure and physiology). Natural selection is simple: things that aren't tough/quick/smart enough get killed and their genetic legacy is not passed on. The end point of both (given enough time to reach that point) is something that is as well adapted to its environment as possible. Both are physically visible in things like viruses and bacteria. We can see that this happens over many generations for these organisms.

• I do not believe in evolution.

• Why is it assumed that if evolution is not the answer, then Christianity is? There are other religions with just as good an outlook on life: Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism... Evolution is not out to deny one religion in particular. It is only another group of people trying to find an answer which fits all the facts, albeit one based on physical proof and extrapolation rather than belief.

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EvolutionBiological classifications: Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species

Everything after its kind (species), there is no evolution between "species", God made a law that there can not be any breeding between species and this is why you will never see a cross species animal like a squirrel and a rabbit. God created all and made natural laws to govern the natural world and these laws can not be broken.

A cama is a hybrid between a camel and a llama. These two species have been separated by 2-3 million years of evolution, yet may be able to produce fertile offspring.

You might also look up "wolfin." There are countless other examples of hybrids.

So much for "God's law" (obviously a misinterpretation of scripture on your part).

There is only evolution within a species. By evolution within a species we get tall people, short people, dark people, and light people, because of dominant and recessive traits which are explained with Mendel's law.

Go to http:/www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/biology/evolution/genetics/mendelsvariation.html to learn more about Mendel's law.

There is also evolution whereby species change altogether. Look up Tiktaalik roseae.

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No I don't. The world isn't getting better, Its getting worse. And people are getting dumber.

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Evolution within a species doesn't mean getting better or worse it simply means change. I also believe the world is getting worse but moral decay is not evolution.

Answer 3

This is a question that is primarily based on opinion. There are people that believe in evolution and there are those that do not.

Those that do not believe in Evolution say thus:

No I do not. It says that evolution does not exist in the BIBLE. There has been scientists that even have proof that evolution is not true. Issac Newton is one of them! There is a YouTube video on it. GOD created humans, trees, bushes, animals and etc. If you are reading this and you do believe in the crazy sense of evolution YOU MAY REAP WHAT YOU SOW! Just like Jesus said! I myself kind of believe in evolution but in a different way. I believe that god created us as apes and made us evolve.

Those that do believe in Evolution have their say:

Yes, I do. According to Darwin, plants and animals first started to inhabit the Earth billions of years ago, and all first started as cellular organisms that graduated from the oceans to land. Scientific studies and genome projects have been done on the processes of evolution and how animals have been naturally selected to become what they were when found as fossilized remains, to what inhabit the earth today. Nothing was mentioned in the Bible about giant raptors or reptiles that once inhabited the earth millions of years ago. Nor was there any mention about the large Mastodons or the Saber-toothed tigers during the Ice Age. All of these have been found in fossils, in soil and rock deposits that have developed over millions or billions of years. The reason that nothing was mentioned in the Bible about such dinosaurs and ice-age mammals is because no body knew such creatures existed. All they knew is about is those animals that were currently found in the world during the time the Bible was written. No one knew much about Paleontology back then.

Darwin has proved in his books about how animals evolve according to where they live, the environment that affects them and what and how they eat. Galapagos island is one prime example that Darwin made note of. Even the study of human existence, according to our genetics and how they are related to other apes in the world, as well as those skeletal remains that were and still are being uncovered all over the world, is a certain process of evolution.

Answer 4

First Answer:

Yes it is true! If you look at his many years of hard work and research it will explain to you how true the idea of evolution is!

Second Answer:

Truth is a fairly weak concept. In science, theories are either accurate (they closely model or reflect reality and make good approximate predictions) or they are not accurate (contradicted by evidence). Evolution is not contradicted by evidence, and enjoys enormous explanatory power. Evolution explains the order found in the fossil record, that fish predate amphibians, and amphibians predate reptiles, birds, and mammals. Evolution also explains the nested hierarchy in which all organisms are readily classified. If evolution was wrong, this hierarchy should not exist, and most species should not be readily classifiable.

Answer 5

The Theory of Evolution basically states that over time, animals change, or mutate, to fit their surroundings. Random mutations constantly pop up in animals. Some are bad, some good, and most neutral. The good mutations will allow that particular organism to reproduce more often, creating more of it's kind. If the mutation is bad, that organism will die out before any chance of reproduction, or shortly thereafter. If it is nuetral, it all depends on chance.

Answer 6

I do not " think " about the evidences and arguments for the theory of evolution by natural selection so much as being compelled to accept them. The theory of evolution by natural selection explains the unity and diversity of life on earth and is the cornerstone of the biological sciences.

Answer 7

No. For a few of the reasons why not, see these links:

http://religion.answers.com/controversy/is-there-evidence-against-evolution

http://judaism.answers.com/jewish-philosophy/can-you-prove-that-god-exists

http://www.allaboutscience.org/intelligent-design.htm

Answer 8

Yes, although Darwin's Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection has been subject to incremental change and improvement since the nineteenth century, and will probably continue to be improved until all possibilities are exhausted. From this perspective, it is not necessary to believe that Darwin's theory was an absolutely correct and complete explanation of the process of evolution, although it comes close.

The Theory of Evolution is based on the observed facts of evolution, both in the fossil record and in DNA. The only way not to believe in evolution is to wilfully ignore the facts or to dispute them. Scientists with the skills and knowledge to dispute the facts do not do so. While it is still possible to believe that the modern Theory of Evolution does not properly represent the process by which evolution occurred, I believe it is not possible for an informed and objective person not to believe that species have evolved over a very long period of time.

For more information, please visit: http://christianity.answers.com/theology/the-story-of-creation

Answer 9

Evolution is called natural selection to set it apart from directed selection. Directed selection is the process used by farmers and dog and cat fanciers to produce new breeds of plants and animals. The process involved is to have the farmer only allow the plants or animals with traits he desires to have offspring and pass on these characteristics.

Natural selection, as proposed by Charles Darwin, suggests that natural forces such as available food, temperature and disease have done the same section for desirable traits throughout history. To not believe in evolution is to not believe in the existence of Chihuahuas and Great Danes as the result of selective breeding of some type of prehistoric wolf or to think that bananas were alway yellow seedless fruits ignoring the almost black seed filled original plants.

Answer 10

It is not a matter of belief. Evolution is a fact that is not disputed by any reputable body.

Darwin s theory (one of many on evolution) gives some explanations as to how evolution progresses.