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Does Accepting Evolution Matter?
http://www.reasons.org ^

Posted on 11/10/2006 6:34:33 AM PST by truthfinder9

Does Accepting Evolution Matter?



TOPICS: Culture/Society; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: biology; crevolist; design; evolution; id; idjunkscience; science
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1 posted on 11/10/2006 6:34:34 AM PST by truthfinder9
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To: truthfinder9

Intelligent designers,creationists and christians
are going to find themselves being singled out
by the new Demonazis currently in power who will use
that power to ensure they stay in power.
We should not be surprised the MSM has been writing
about this ever since Bush took office.


2 posted on 11/10/2006 6:44:24 AM PST by claptrap (optional tag-line under reconsideration)
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To: truthfinder9

Only for educated people


3 posted on 11/10/2006 6:48:16 AM PST by bert (K.E. N.P. Rozerem commercials give me nightmares)
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To: truthfinder9

Answer: Not so much. Accepting Genetics, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and other experimental/medical sciences, now that matters.


4 posted on 11/10/2006 6:49:58 AM PST by FairWitness
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To: truthfinder9
I am trying to remember how much time we spent on creationism in grade school or evolution in high school (parochial GS/public HS). It wasn't much if any in grade school and maybe a day or two in high school biology. The other 178 days were spent on classification of various organisms and what was inside them.

Now maybe the entire organization of biology class could have been considered as an implicit confirmation of evolution, i.e. all the bacteria together, all the earthworms together, all the mammals together, instead of classifying animals on whether they were clean or unclean and how many Noah shoved into the ark.

My opinion - a lot of people spending a lot of time getting worked up over something that isn't covered for long in school.

5 posted on 11/10/2006 6:55:09 AM PST by KarlInOhio (Hey Kerry, What part of showing heels and ass is a winning strategy in Iraq?)
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To: truthfinder9
Does Accepting Evolution Matter?

No. Evolution is on a par with homosexuality. Rational folks know that we cannot change the irrational mind, but we will not allow our beliefs to be condemned, misrepresented, and maligned at the whim of vainglorious deceivers.

6 posted on 11/10/2006 7:08:45 AM PST by jla
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Comment #7 Removed by Moderator

To: jla

Eh?

How is a scientific theory that has been tested and is supported not only in biology but in paleontology and sedimentology "on par" with a sexual behavior?

That makes no sense to me at all.


8 posted on 11/10/2006 8:00:13 AM PST by Air Force Brat
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To: truthfinder9
If truth be told, evolution hasn’t yielded many practical or commercial benefits…

By that standard, Holocaust revisionism isn't a problem, either.

<s>
What does it matter what we teach the kids, as long as dollars aren't at stake?
</s>

9 posted on 11/10/2006 8:10:45 AM PST by Physicist
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To: jla
Evolution is on a par with homosexuality.

Oh, that'll win elections. Not.

"Intolerance plus ignorance equals religion" is just not an equation that will yield many votes.

10 posted on 11/10/2006 8:19:15 AM PST by Physicist
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To: jla

Evolution is on a par with homosexuality.
__________

Most nonsensical post of the hour award. But I suspect that you've been told countless times that evolution is no threat to your faith, because that faith is YOURS and cannot be taken away by any other's beliefs. But you have upped your street cred with the other folks who happily condemn, misrepresent and malign those who believe in evolution. Congrats.


11 posted on 11/10/2006 9:11:35 AM PST by dmz
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To: Physicist; dmz
Evolution is on a par with homosexuality.

It is hardly a matter of tolerance, or intolerance. And it is far from any erroneously perceived threat.
They are on a par with one another not because they are both irrational precepts.
Now you are more than welcome to be evols or homos, I, nor anyone else, could change that. What we can effect though is how far, or more accurately, not far, you are allowed to propagate this anomaly amongst those repulsed by it.

12 posted on 11/10/2006 9:25:28 AM PST by jla
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To: jla

I still am a tad unclear how you are equating homosexuality and evolution. Your words do little to clear that up. All I get now is that you equate them because you dislike both of them.


13 posted on 11/10/2006 9:43:26 AM PST by dmz
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To: jla
What we can effect though is how far, or more accurately, not far, you are allowed to propagate this anomaly amongst those repulsed by it.

"Allowed"? I need your (or anybody's) permission to promote evolution?

"Repulsed"? So your (or anybody's) preferences determine what is "allowable"?

I wonder what would happen if such attitudes were put to a vote? Oh, wait...scratch that...they just were. Granted, the war was the biggest issue, but all this faux-Christian baggage was a loser for the Republicans, too.

The linking of creationism and anti-homosexuality is Democrat pollster's dream come true. It allows the Dems rightly to claim that the Republicans are the party of intolerance and ignorance. If Howard Dean had been smarter and more cynical, he would have thought of it himself.

14 posted on 11/10/2006 9:52:58 AM PST by Physicist
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To: dmz

Throw alchemy into the mix. Now is it clearer for you?


15 posted on 11/10/2006 9:54:03 AM PST by jla
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To: bert

16 posted on 11/10/2006 9:58:08 AM PST by rabidralph
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To: truthfinder9

It's not a matter of accepting the principle of evolution, not any more than accepting negative numbers or even imaginary numbers. These things are posited and used so far as they seem to be useful. As a comparison, we could refuse to use imaginary numbers and insist on using only real numbers, even though that would make modern electronics very difficult.


17 posted on 11/10/2006 10:01:44 AM PST by RightWhale (RTRA DLQS GSCW)
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To: truthfinder9

The only evolution that has been practical is micro-evolution. Horse breeding and other inter-species breeding and hybrids in plants have had good results. Macro-evolution (speciation) is a joke, and propaganda, an excuse to dismiss the idea of a god.


18 posted on 11/10/2006 10:28:39 AM PST by DeweyCA
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To: Physicist; dmz
They are on a par with one another not because they are both irrational precepts.

Sorry. I erred, yet I evolved and corrected my fault. :^)

19 posted on 11/10/2006 10:59:58 AM PST by jla
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To: truthfinder9
Quote mine alert. Why am I not surprised that you didn't cite the rest of Dr. Coyne's article? Never in the article does he say that evolution doesn't matter, as you imply. The very next paragraph lists several important practical uses of evolution:

As far as I know, there have been only two genuine commercial applications of evolutionary theory. One is the use of 'directed evolution' to produce commercial products (such as enzymes to protect crop plants from herbicides). The other is the clever use of insecticide-free 'pest refuges' to stop herbivorous insects evolving resistance to herbicides containing Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxins, a strategy derived from principles of population genetics. There will certainly be more of these to come. And evolutionary algorithms are used in designing computer programs, and may have uses in engineering and economics.

Even if there haven't been all that many commercial applications, it is still very important to understand evolution:

In the end, the true value of evolutionary biology is not practical but explanatory. It answers, in the most exquisitely simple and parsimonious way, the age-old question: "How did we get here?" It gives us our family history writ large, connecting us with every other species, living or extinct, on Earth. It shows how everything from frogs to fleas got here via a few easily grasped biological processes. And that, after all, is quite an accomplishment.

You can read the full article here:

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v442/n7106/full/442983a.html

20 posted on 11/10/2006 5:54:46 PM PST by curiosity
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