Evolution

Yes, by definition evolution is a theory (hence it is called the 'theory of evolution').

Despite what some would try to argue, this is not a statement against evolution's credibility and the concepts involved. Rather, it is a statement of complete and unanimous support by the scientific community, which finds evolution to be the simplest and most logical explanation for the phenomena involved, as well as fitting the evidence, providing predictions which can be tested and passing all tests that ever attempted to break it.

It is also a hypothesis, a fact and a process, and none of these are a problem either.

However, as much as some would like to see this as a problem, we must first note what a theory is. In scientific terms, a theory is a hypothesis which has been experimentally confirmed, has made accurate predictions about phenomena, accommodates all known facts about the subject, and is widely accepted as correct.

We must contrast this definition with that often used by those who don't understand it; in that case, a theory would be more correctly referred to by the term hypothesis, which is an explanation of something but which has yet to be experimentally confirmed.

So in basic terms, a theory is an idea which - after a lot of testing and experimentation and criticism and debate - has been determined to fit all the facts, explain those facts consistently, and make reliable predictions.

In short, it's about as close as you can get to certainty. The vast majority of the scientific community - about 99.9% of all qualified scientists - accept it as such. There is no better explanation of how life on earth came to be the way it is now.

Intelligent Design (ID) asserts that the universe and life forms we see today are best explained by design of an intelligent cause; Some ID proponents do not rule out adaptations of species, but they do not believe the addition of new complex information could have happened naturally. In other words, they believe natural variation within species is possible, but not new species. Both are trying to explain how the world works. Both claim to search for truth. Proponents of each believe they have proposed a theory.

Within science a theory is generally defined as a systematic framework that explains observations and experimental results, and which can be used to make testable predictions which in turn can either be used to refine or falsify the theory. Generally speaking scientists will attempt to test new theories by designing experiments that, if successful, will falsify the theory. All scientific theories and results are considered tentative and subject to revision or refutation as more evidence is gathered.

Scientific explanations for questions about our world and everything in it are formed by using the scientific method. First, a scientist would come up with an explanation to an observed reoccurring pattern in nature, this is called a hypothesis. The hypothesis is tested by gathering more data by observation and experimentation to see if the data supports or falsifies the explanation. If enough data is gathered, the hypothesis can be considered to have been validated and it becomes a theory. But even a theory is still subject to being falsified if enough data is found to prove it wrong. Scientists must publish the results of their experiments, and explain their hypotheses and theories in scientific journals so that other scientists are able to understand their work. It is also important for experiments and theories to be explained in a way that allows other scientists to reproduce the experiments or devise new ones that can either support or falsify the theory. When scientists try to publish their experiments the work must first be peer-reviewed. This is a process where the work they want to be published is reviewed by a selection of other experts in the field (peers) before it is accepted for publication.

The theory of evolution is supported by data which was collected through observation of a wide variety of natural systems and through laboratory experimentation. Most palaeontologists consider the fossil record to provide evidence completely consistent with the theory of evolution and geneticists also consider evidence from the study of genes to also be consistent with evolution. These two separate strands of evidence are also consistent with each other and have been used to successfully make predictions.

Scientists would further argue that Intelligent Design is not a theory because it has no data supporting it and there is no possible way to falsify it. Intelligent Design supporters argue that the evidence to support them is in the inability of current scientific theories to explain how certain features in biological systems came about naturally and that it is impossible for these features to occur naturally so they must therefore be the result of Intelligent Design. Many scientists consider this argument to be invalid and little more than an attempt to insert God, or an Intelligent Designer, into any current gaps in scientific understanding. This is often referred to as the 'God of the gaps' argument. Although the progress of scientific research can constantly fill these gaps in our knowledge this aspect of the Intelligent Design hypothesis could never be falsified because it can always be reapplied where there are still gaps in our understanding.

Some Intelligent design proponents argue that Evolutionary theory is a psuedoscience which lacks any significant empirical evidence to support it whilst others have chosen to argue that Intelligent Design should be taught as a valid alternative to Evolution within science education. Opponents of Intelligent Design argue that it is unsupported by evidence whereas, in their view, the evidence to support Evolution is overwhelming.

The majority of the scientific community have so far rejected Intelligent design as unscientific, amounting to little more than an untested (and some would argue un-testable) hypothesis that has produced no experimental evidence. It should be noted that accepted theories in science can and are overturned when experimental results are published that successfully falsify the prevailing theory.

Evolutionary theory is often criticised for failing to explain the origins of biological life, and that it is a theory that excludes the possibility of a supernatural god, and as such is atheistic in nature. In reality Evolution is explicitly not a theory concerning the origin of life, or the origin of the universe. It assumes the existence of life and is concerned with explaining how these living systems change through successive generations, developing new traits and ultimately creating new species, or as Charles Darwin put it 'the Origin of Species'.

The theory of Evolution within modern science does not explicitly exclude the possibility of an intelligent designer, either as the designer of the first living matter, or of the universe as a whole. Because science is a discipline that attempts to explain observed facts in terms of measurable physical reality it does not allow supernatural entities as part of its explanations or theories because they are incompatible with the scientific method, even if they actually exist. Many scientists have supernatural or religious beliefs but they do not rely on them when using scientific methods to understand the world. Some evolutionary scientists believe in a form of supernatural origin or intelligent design to the universe and that the mechanism of evolution was designed to do precisely what scientists observe it to do.

Each of these proposed theories starts with presuppositions. Evolutionary Theory and other scientific theories begin by assuming that everything we can observe and measure can be explained in terms of natural processes. ID assumes that supernatural design is possible and that its effects can be observed. ID scientists do not challenge the idea of change over time in organisms -just that the addition of certain complex biological information proposed by evolution is impossible without the intervention of an intelligent designer.

My comment is that it is not a theory but yes a fact. (Just to correct you...)

And of course, Evolution is the real thing, we humans evolved from other animals, and life doesn't existe only for a couple of thousands of years but yes for thousand thousands more. What you have to bare in mind is the evidence of this. Geologists and biologists and even chemists have proven that evolution did happen and still is happening.

Check out Charles Darwin and Richard Dawkins to have a better idea about evolution. You may also look at the pbs site, because they have mada an extroadrinary documentary about evolution and they have some things on their web-site. Just search for Evolution. Hum, you there can see everything, and check out Sir Kalvin, he was the one who started agreeing with Charles Darwin, affirming that the planet earth has been formed much before when they said it had been formed, based only on the temperature earth irradiates from its geocentre. The pope, also approved evolution, he couldn't devy it with so many facts.

How can one not accept evolution??

Hope my opinion jelps in some way! :)
Present-day organisms on Earth had developed from earlier, distinctly different organisms.

Panspermia is theory that life on Earth may have originated through microorganisms from outer space (foreign/alien life) , and that these living organisms may have delivered life to other parts of the universe that have the right atmospheric conditions.

A gradual process in which the genetic makeup and physical traits of an organism develop and evolve into different and separate organisms. With this Theory Man may be one such organism, whose existence is based on the gradual transformation of organisms before him.

== == A divine act where every species in the World was created perfect and 'as is' from g-d; Therefore man was created from scratch by g-d and put on Earth.

Evolution is the change in allele frequency (genotype) over time in a population of organisms resulting in alterations of the phenotype. Change over time gives rise to the diversity of species.

The theory of evolution by natural selection is the nonrandom survival and reproductive success of randomly varying organisms. This is the main adaptive driver of evolution and can lead to speciation. All organisms are variations and the environment, the natural selector, preferentially chooses those with beneficial traits to be reproductively successful in the immediate environment at a greater rate than their fellow population members. As their descendents possess these traits, the alleles shift in the population gene pool and evolution occurs. Gene flow and genetic drift also cause evolution, especially in small populations, but they are not adaptive drivers.
Basically, theory of evolution is the theory that explains the diversity of life. Many believe the father of evolution was Comte de Buffon, a French naturalist. However, he was unable to come up with a reasonable mechanism that drives evolution. Charles Darwin later came up with natural selection as the mechanism that drives evolution and wrote about it in his book On the Origin of Species.