Evolution: Natural selection vs. Godly guidance

Do Scientists, especially who I refer to as "evangelical atheistic naturalists" such as Dawkins, Dennett et.al. apply a different "standard of proof" for naturalist scientific theories than for Design theories?For example when secular naturalist scientists refer to natural selection in evolution it is accepted as fact that there is such an entity. However can anyone prove the existence of natural selection?Does it have a physical existence that can be proven, or is it the name that scientists hope is the modus operandi of evolution?It is argued that a supernatural being can never be proven, therefore intelligent design can never be proven. I can say the same for "natural selection", it can never be proven, only accepted on a belief, ie faith, therefore it is not a valid theory.What if, as I believe, evolution is the continuous creation by a supernatural being, who created and continues to creathe and evolve the natural world? How can sceintists accept a belief in natural selection as superior to my belief in the supernatural's continuous creation as the cause of evolution. Where is the proof?Edited by Adminnemooseus, : Add the blank lines between paragraphs.Edited by Adminnemooseus, : Increased final paragraph text size. It seems to be the essential question of the message.Edited by Adminnemooseus, : Changed topic title from "Natural selection" to "Evolution: Natural selection vs. Godly guidance".

I've done some format changes to your message 1. I have not changed the content at all.My impression of your message 1 is that you accept biological evolution as being a reality. Your variety of "design theory" is that God has to some degree guided evolution.So, instead of natural selection you have God's selection? Or is it sometimes natural selection and sometimes God's selection? Or do you reject that there was any selection process at all?Adminnemooseus

My theory is that evolution has and will occur in life. That this process is designed by God, for me the Roman Catholic God. That what scientists call natural selection can never be proven, just as scientists declare design can never be proven. That scientists adopted the term natural selection because science dictates that all causes must be natural. There is a process but it need and cannot be labeled natural selection because there is no way to prove that these changes occcur naturally. Can a scientist prove that this change in a species was natural or supernatural? therefore scientists by adopting natural selection as the cause over supernatural design is arbitrary and not provable.
Hope this helps.
Shadow 71

Some comments before I promote this (disclaimer - I'm not a biologist).I point out that selection, natural or otherwise, is an important part of evolution theory, but it is not the whole story. A larger version of the story is genetic mutation and then selection.You do not seem to be denying the possibility of natural selection. You just think that God's hand may be involved to some degree in the selection process. As this topic progresses, others will present information supporting natural selection. In the process, I doubt any will be saying that God was not possibly involved - They (like you?) will not find there to be any evidence either for or against God's involvement.The fossil record shows a history of Earth's life with seemingly abundant randomness and inefficiency of process (including dead end extinctions). Theologically, one could argue that any guidance from God sure didn't seem to be very thorough.This topic is kind of a "Biological Evolution" / "Faith and Belief" hybrid topic. I guess I'll plug it into the "Misc" forum.Adminnemooseus

Thread copied to the Evolution: Natural selection vs. Godly guidance thread in the Creation/Evolution Miscellany forum, this copy of the thread has been closed.