Evolutionary War (Conservatives and Evolution)

The New Republic ^ | 7/7/05 | Ben Adler

[PatrickHenry]

Can you give an example or two of these new discoveries?

The creation "science" researchers have discovered several more subjunctive verbs in recently-published scientific papers.

[spunkets]

"What is a soul, anyway? Always wanted to know."

You have a body that functions as a machine that supports the sentient, rational features of your mind. It provides for thinking, emotions, memories, ect... All those things that machine supports, that are the essence of your living being is your spirit. The soul is the machine that supports your spirit for eternity.

Just as God is a Tinity, so too is man.

[Oztrich Boy]

ooh! sarcasm. ... dramatic irony, metaphor, bathos, puns, parody, litotes and... satire.

[daysailor]

ID is not even a hypothesis.

[daysailor]

Bingo.

[furball4paws]

"Just as God is a Tinity, so too is man."

I have just been reading volume 2 of E. Gibbon's A History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. The current version of the Trinity (Catholic style) was a matter of great debate. In fact there were at least three competing versions of what was "correct". It led to wars, murders, assassinations and a whole lot of mayhem. If might does not make right, then the current idea of the Trinity could well be wrong. It only exists because it militarily beat out the others.

[PatrickHenry]

Bingo.

Cretigo!

[visualops]

Late to the thread- but- don't we have a major major problem with the comprehension of a great many people in just what is a theory and what is science and what is the theory of evolution? I mean I was in school a heck of a long time ago and while I did well in science there's alot I've forgotten, but I never confused science and theory with God or religion or the origin of the universe and/or life. I am dumbfounded by the garbling of this whole topic. From the first sentence "I believe in evolution" you're already off on the wrong foot saying you believe in a theory.

[indcons]

Great post...thanks for the ping.

[PatrickHenry]

All your issues are dealt with in The List-O-Links. But the creationists prefer not to look. A small sample:

The scientific method. Exhaustive discussion.
What's a Scientific Theory? Encyclopedia article.
The Theory of Evolution. Excellent introductory encyclopedia article.
NEW Science and Creationism: from the National Academy of Sciences, 2nd Ed..
Is Evolution Science? It certainly is. Here's why.
Evolution and the Nature of Science. Excellent discussion.
Evolution as Fact and Theory by Stephen Jay Gould.
Morton's Demon. Why so many have trouble with evolution.
Do You Believe in Evolution? Knowledge versus belief.

[PatrickHenry]

For the thread, thank Right Wing Professor. The pinging takes a lot less effort.

[visualops]

Yeah, I know, I just had to do my sputtering. It's one thing to miss some details but when the side of the barn is coming right at you...

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[spunkets]

"The current version of the Trinity (Catholic style) was a matter of great debate. In fact there were at least three competing versions of what was "correct". It led to wars, murders, assassinations and a whole lot of mayhem."

Catholic doctrine holds that the Trinity is 3 distinct persons in one God. They say there is not 3 Gods, only 1 God. Beyond that they hold it doctrinally, as a mystery. Others said there was more than one god, or Jesus was a man.

"If might does not make right, then the current idea of the Trinity could well be wrong."

Might never makes right as far as the truth is concerned. The Catholic doctrine on the matter of the Trinity isn't wrong, it's lacking to the point that it's impossible to understand, because of that. Of course they fix these things as mysteries.

There is only one unique essence of trinity and it can be understood. It can be obtained from the Bible through reason. What is written and logic is the sword that determines the correct identification and truth of what a trinity is. My last post gave that.

The spirit is the person, the body is just the physical machine that supports the spirit's existence. Men's spirits are developed here on Earth, while supported by this physical body. Later they are supported by the soul, elsewhere for eternity. All 3 are the same person. This won't be found in the Catholic doctrine, nor was it held by any old warriors who fought about it.

[furball4paws]

Jeez.... Nah, it ain't worth the time.

[Tribune7]

I could see myself giving an answer such as above and of course you can be a conservative and believe in evolution. I think you can be a Christian and believe in evolution.

It doesn't mean you'd be right :-)

[beaver fever]

"Only exception is ID is not a theory. It is only a hypothesis. It has a long way to go to become a theory."

It's not even a hypothesis. It's a theological interpolation.

eg. Angels lack spacio-temporal extension.

Ergo the number of Angels that can dance on the head of a pin is infinite.

True, but no fact is required to establish the truth of the proposition.

It's a tautology and like all tautologies, "tells us nothing about the world." - Wittgenstein.

[wallcrawlr]

ping

Revelation 4:11
See my profile for info

[Doctor Stochastic]

Stochastic^® Differential Equations would probably offend more than 9/10 of the American public. Of course, we are all better off having the more difficult science courses outsourced to India and China.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

In fact, the evidence supporting the theory is looking thinner and thinner all the time as new discoveries are made.

Actually it keeps getting better and better. Embryonic developmental data was found to agree substantially with the pre-existing morphological data. These are things like how the embryonic cells divide along the polarized axes and the cleavage patterns within phyla.

Now the molcular data are starting to confirm both the embryonic and morphological data. It's hard to find a valid scientific criticism of evolution any more.

But if you can turn up that billion year old mammal fossil you'll have something.