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To: ShadowAce
I do feel, though, that evolutionists have not proven their theory beyond a reasonable doubt. That is my basis for rejecting evolution

Well then you must have tossed your faith out the window a long time ago if thats the criteria you entertain.

There is a big jump between theory and scientific law. Evolution is a theory and we speak of the Laws of gravity. You can criticize evo all you want; you criticize the laws of gravity at your peril.

58 posted on 09/08/2005 2:08:07 PM PDT by corkoman (Overhyped)
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To: corkoman
Well then you must have tossed your faith out the window a long time ago if thats the criteria you entertain.

Nope. Faith is not the same as science. Once a theory claims it is science, then the proof must be there for it to be considered true. Faith is the evidence of things not seen.

66 posted on 09/08/2005 2:12:29 PM PDT by ShadowAce (Linux -- The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
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To: corkoman

you do know, yes, that the Laws of Gravity got bumped back to theoretical status over 70 years ago?


76 posted on 09/08/2005 2:15:38 PM PDT by King Prout (and the Clinton Legacy continues: like Herpes, it is a gift that keeps on giving.)
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To: corkoman
There is a big jump between theory and scientific law. Evolution is a theory and we speak of the Laws of gravity. You can criticize evo all you want; you criticize the laws of gravity at your peril.

Theories and law are not differing points on a scale of certitude. Although there is some overlap and interplay, they are basically different kinds of entities. To be brief theories are explanatory (they propose some model or mechanism[s] which account for why things happen a certain way) whereas laws are descriptive (they predict what will happen in a certain kind of system).

There is no instrinsic reason that a law must inspire more confidence than a theory (or vice versa). Furthermore laws certainly ARE open to criticism in science. All scientific claims are. Even facts.

145 posted on 09/08/2005 3:04:10 PM PDT by Stultis
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To: corkoman
There is a big jump between theory and scientific law. Evolution is a theory and we speak of the Laws of gravity. You can criticize evo all you want; you criticize the laws of gravity at your peril.

Actually, gravity is less understood than the processes of evolution. Newton's Law of universal gravitation wasn't able to predict certain astronomical observations which are predicted by Einstein's General Relativity Theory. Neither Newton nor Einstein pretended to explain the cause of gravity, their models are descriptive. Newton said:

I wish we could derive the rest of the phenomena of nature by the same kind of reasoning from mechanical principles; for I am induced by many reasons to suspect that they may all depend upon certain forces by which the particles of bodies, by some causes hitherto unknown, are either mutually impelled towards each other, and cohere in regular figures, or are repelled and recede from each other; which forces being unknown, philosophers have hitherto attempted the search of nature in vain.

Note that physicists are attempting to create more complete and powerful explinations of the world including gravity, including theories of "quantum gravity." Real science is not as cut-and-dried as creationists think.

Darwin pointed out evidence of evolution, but others had done so before him, his important contribution was to give a powerful explanation for evolution, the process of natural selection. Evolutionary science has itself evolved in the century and a half since Darwin published his theory, but his insights remain central.

179 posted on 09/08/2005 4:35:09 PM PDT by MRMEAN (Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member of congress;but I repeat myself. Mark Twain)
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