What do Evolutionists believe

Well, I'll take a shot at answering your question.The geologic column would have to be the most basic reason evolution is believed. I say that because it is clearly what has convinced, and still convinces, the most people. There are layers in the earth, there is a lot of commonality to the layers around the world, and there is clearly a lineage of life in those layers. In the bottom layers, the creatures found are a completely different set of species than are found today. Even if we could only go from a reptile ruled world to a mammal-ruled world, that is a huge change that suggests an extinction and a new creation, as was often believed in the 18th century, or large-scale evolution.The flood is a crummy explanation for the geologic column, and it is the only real competing theory, although I admit that calling it a competing theory is a gigantic stretch. There's no evidence for a worldwide flood, the ark was impossible, and the flood couldn't have laid the geologic column.The column is sorted by a progression of life, and it is also sorted by a progression of radioactive decay in its rocks. Radiometric dating is able to date the layers of the geologic column in the same order as they are found in the earth.Add to the column the evidence that species do change over time. You have to at least believe in the evolution of the wolf to the chihuahua, which is a pretty large change. Some of Darwin's reasoning was based on the large evolution of domestic doves in England.Finally, add to the evolution seen in selective breeding the mechanism that we now understand, DNA, and you have evidence for the complete transformation of life over time (the geologic column), evidence for the small steps by which it happens (selective breeding by man and short-term changes, say, on species isolated on islands), and a means for it to happen, and Darwinism in some sense is the only realistic interpretation of what we see.I hope that helps.

Winston,Let me add one more thing. I think the fact that stars convert hydrogen, the smallest element and most abundant in the universe, into all the heavier elements, and especially into organic molecules, argues heavily that there is a progression not just from protozoa to us, but from hydrogen to us through the stars.

If you don't know the facts or data that support the
theory of evolution, how can you say that it is a belief?If you want to know the evidences do a web-search on evolution
and look at all the non-creationist sites. Not that there
isn't a lot of useful information on creationist sites, but that
such sites have an implicit anti-evo agenda. Evo. sites in
general avoid the topic of creationism as it is irrelevent to
the actual study of biological evolution.

Evolution need only be a belief in that it presupposes the existence of the physical world. The alternative i.e. not believing that the physical world exists, would be pretty damn difficult.

Which is why you don't find an 'Evolutionist' prefix to scientists titles on non-creation websites.

That doesn't make evolution a belief.A belief, surely, is an opinion held based upon faith,
as opposed to weight of evidence.Typically beliefs centre around concepts or philosophies
for which there can be no positive evidence (like the
existence of any god or gods).Evolution is based upon the tested, and as yet unrefuted
theoretical framework developed from the works of Darwin.

A theory isn't proven so wouldn't you have to believe in it, even if it is based on evidence, it's not conclusive so there is room for doubt

It's still not the same as a 'belief'.If you have a number of lines of inquiry which lead
you to conclude that X has happened, you do not normally
say 'I believe in X.' you would say 'I accept X.'Anyone is free to believe whatever they wish, whether they
have evidence for it, against it, or have never even really
thought about it seriuosly.

And it's probably worthwhile to add that people will often only say, "I accept X" when choosing their words carefully. In normal conversation most people, including scientists, just say, "I believe X." But they wouldn't say, "I believe in X."But if a Creationist were to ask an evolutionist, "Do you believe in evolution?", then the evolution would likely just answer, "Yes," not bothering to nit-pick about wording and meaning that he accepts the theory of evolution. But if he does so then there is a breed of Creationist who will reply, "Aha, so evolution is your God." So you roll your eyes and say to yourself, "Here we go again."--Percy

Hopefully the lack of response here means that some
non-believers finally see why Evolution is not
a belief in the way they mean.

no. it means i dropped this thread because nobody answered the original question. Everybody got caught up in the different shades of meaning of words. so no peter you didn't win or anything like that. It just means people got tired of posting in this topic

Perhaps no one gave you the answer you wanted, but you received a number of answers. In particular, there were four answers to your clarification in Message 14, none of which you replied to.Possibly, asking why people choose evolution over Creationism is the wrong question. Since Creationism isn't science, for those exploring scientific explanations it was never an alternative. It makes as much sense to ask why people choose astronomy over astrology, or modern medicine over witch doctors. In most circumstances, astrology and witch doctors aren't considered realisitic possibilities. They're beneath the bar of minimum scientific qualification and so do not warrant consideration. Rather than asking why evolution is chosen over Creationism you should perhaps instead ask why Creationism isn't even considered.--Percy

I thought it was too much to hopeAs to your original question, I think the problem is
that no-one actually understood what you are actually
asking.The question of basic belief ... in what?We have pointed out that acceptance of evolution as the
most likely explanation for the observed diversity of
life is based upon consideration of evidence(s), and not
a matter of belief.Perhaps you could elaborate on what 'basic beliefs' you are
interested in.