The main issue I have, with creationism/intelligent design being presented as though they are in opposition to evolution, is that the latter can be
disproved (which has not happened yet) or proved with research/evidence/knowledge/etc, while the former cannot.
Creationism & Intelligent design share the fundamental idea of an omni-present being as their reason for all existence, which currently, cannot be
proved or disproved scientifically. Because of this, it cannot yet be considered an area for scientific debate.
Evolution, on the otherhand, has been widely accepted (by the scientific community, at least) as the most reasonable explanation of how the natural
world today came about. This has been given credence via fossil records spanning millions of years, the study of living animals and their simularities
to others and most recently, with verification at a cellular level through the mapping of genes via DNA sequencing.
You should also remember that science, at any point in history, merely offers up the best explanation we have for something at that time. It is by no
means the final word and is never considered such because the scientific fraternity is always open to better theories, as long as they are verifiable
through further independent tests, experiments and research. Fortunately for science, it can continue to modify its established explainations for
reality (or replace them completely) depending on what new convincing evidence presents itself. Religion doesn't need to as it has a single
'answer' for everything.
Please understand that I have no objection to people following the religious explainations as to humanity's and everything elses origins, just their
continued and pointless opposition to evolution or any other scientific theory or facts. One can neither prove or disprove the other.
I also do not oppose these ideas/beliefs being taught in schools, however, I do oppose them being taught in the wrong subject. They belong in the
realm of religious education
not biology.
Of course, it is possible to discuss a more general subject such as "Does science make belief in God obsolete?" (As is discussed here:
templeton.org My simple answer to this is (as I said before) "No, because science cannot actually prove
or disprove the existence of God even if it could prove the origin of all religions was actually human".)
So, no more Creationism/ID vs Evolution threads please (unless of course, you like going around and around in circles getting absolutely
nowhere...).
To moderators: If this thread does become another laboured C/ID vs EVO thread, you have my blessing to lock it immediately (and any subsequent
ones!)
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Definitions of terms (as there seems to be confusion amongst some boards):-
Source: Wikipedia.org articles of the same name
Creationism is a religious belief that humanity, life, the Earth, and the universe were created
in their original form by a deity.
Intelligent_design is the assertion that "certain features of the universe and of living
things
are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection".
Evolution (