Quote:
originally posted be lebell
As a Christian, I believe God created humankind.
As a scientist, I believe the mechanism She used was evolution.
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Couldn't have said it any better!
Quote:
originally posted by duckznutz
Maybe the TFP has a greater than average amount of people with intelligence?
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As much as my ego would be bruised by stating this, I don't think that most tfp'rs are of greater or lesser intelligence the the rest of the population. Believing in creationism doesn't make you stupid or gullible. Hell, plenty of "intelligent" people believe in aliens and vampires!
My two cents worth:
If you compare creationism and evolution and subject both theories to the scientific method, the conclusion one arrives at is that neither can be proved. For the scientific method to be applied, one must be able to design a method that can test a hypothesis and this methodology can be indepentently reproducible.
The existence of God is a matter of faith. There is no test of faith. You either believe or you don't.
Evolution is about the relationships between all living things - past and present. But the phylogeny (a family tree, so to speak) cannot be reproduced. The fossil record is fragmented and the relationships between species are open to speculation and interpretation. Even the classification of existing species today are still being rewritten to reflect new evidence or relationships.
That said, I do believe that the science behind evolution is much firmer and the evidence, albeit cercumstancial, is convincing. My personal searches through the creationist sites (at a friend's urging!) has revealed shoddy science and articles that ammount to what I take as personal attacks against Charles Darwin!
Quote:
originally quoted by lumpenprole
For a prime example of why personal beliefs should not drive scientific enquiry, read "the Vavilov Affair"
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Unfortunately, many "scientists" could be lumped into this catagory. I have recently read an article in the March 2003
Scientific American describing a possible mechanism for the evolution of feathers in dinosaurs and birds. The authors, Richard Prum and Alan Brush conclude their essay by stating "Creationists and other evolutionary skeptics have long pointed to feathers as a favorite example of the insufficiency of evolutionary theory. ... Now, in an ironic about-face, feathers offer a sterling example of how we can best study the origin of an evolutionary novelty..."
The way I read this, the authors seem to have had a personal agenda in mind when they embarked on their paper - an attempt to discredit creationism. (Besides, there are problems with their theory on the origin of feathers, but thats for another post!)
Too late in the night... rambling... need sleep now...
Thanks for your indulgence!