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Originally posted by Penders:
Hello there,
I am writing a thesis on the evolution-creationsm debate. For this thesis i am looking for a convinced, educated evolutionist living in the US, to answer the following questions.
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Originally posted by Penders:
1. What is the worth of the creationist theory (bible - genesis) to you?
Nothing. It is based on an evidentially unsupported claim.
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Originally posted by Penders:
2. How do you view the modern day tendency towards accepting evolution as a fact?
Fact as in scientific fact. Where the overwhelming evidence points to evolution, where it is no longer unreasonable to not accept the theory. All science is tentative, there is no 100% absolute fact in science.
So, if the evidence points so strongly supports a theory, I have no problem with evolution being accepted as a
scientific fact.
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Originally posted by Penders:
3. What was the key point in your life, that made you choose for the evolutionist point of view? (Or did you never even consider creationism?)
It probably wasn’t so much as accepting evolution, as rejecting Christianity as an explanation for the world around me. Once I had made this jump, it was a matter of finding natural explanations for observed phenomena (even if I never realised it as such, at that time). The scientific method allows for
observable evidence supporting hypthesis’ & theories, the more evidence that supports a theory, the more I will support that theory. The opposite is allowing as-much-imagination-as-you-like to be an explanation, I realised this wasn’t a valid method of ascertaining anything, at about 11 or 12.
The word evolutionist is a bit of a misnomer. Natural materialist would better describe me, & I imagine many others.
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Originally posted by Penders:
4. How do you cope with the fact that evolutionary biology and other sciences have not (yet) provided the answer for the ultimate origin (of mass / of life / of consiousness)?
Much like I cope with any other phenomena that remains unexplained. It is simply unexplained. Because we don’t understand the cause of gravity doesn’t lead me to reject anything, just not to accept any particular theory at any one time.
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Originally posted by Penders:
5. Do you accept the teaching of the creationist point of view in schools?
No
Mark
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Occam's razor is not for shaving with.
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