Vestigial Organs?

The term 'vestigial' does not mean 'useless' but many creationists pretend it does because thats what liars do. As dwise pointed out, being vestigial means that it has lost its original function through evolution, it doesn't mean 'useless.'Using your tailbone example, although it serves a minimal purpose now its original function was as part of a tail. We still carry the genes to grow tails incidentally, and humans are born with tails from time to time.Dwise mentioned the appendix. I've often seen creationists try to portray the appendix as useful since they believe God gave it to them. What's odd is that when people have their appendix removed, they virtually never suffer ill effects from it. When people keep their appendix, they often die when it bursts. If I was to adopt the creationist perspective, I would have to believe that God gave us the appendix because He likes to kill people. Incidentally, the appendix-equivalent in other animals enables them to digest cellulose - that is likely its original purpose that is lost through evolutionary change.Incidentally, vestigial organs often ARE useless. For example, some species of cave fish and salamanders have sightless eyes and the blind mole rat has a layer of skin covering their eyes rendering them useless.

Here's a research study you might find interesting: [Malformations of the human tail bud or: caudal agenesis syndrome. A review] - PubMed

I fear this is only vaguely related to the subject and I prefer to stay on topic.(in other words, I have no idea what the answers are to your questions )

Hi Mr Jack, When a structure that was originally used for one purpose is modified for a new one, that's called an exaptation.
The distinction between a vestigial structure and an exaptation is sometimes vague, but generally speaking if the structure has a substantial new function and purpose, it should be considered an exaptation, not vestigial.

'The Fall' is a bizarre story about an incompetent god who creates faulty humans then blames them for His mistakes. He creates a tree of knowledge for no other apparent reason then to punish people for eatting from it and the theme of punishing people for acquiring knowledge seems to be a common trend in Christianity. Using The Fall as an excuse for the mistakes in 'design' is an apologetic attempt to deny your god's incompetence by portraying him as malevalent instead. I imagine that it brings little comfort to think that God does stupid things on purpose instead of accidentally.Vestigial structures make perfect sense in light of evolution and are great evidence of evolution. Seeing people argue that God purposely creates stupid things that often result in horrifying death and disease just goes to show the absurdity that people will go to in order to maintain absurd beliefs. If God did exist, He would surely be revolted by creationists who portray Him so monstrously, and would likely hold evolutionists in high regard for being honest and objective enough to pursue an honest understanding of His creation.