Do you believe in Evolution?

[Bentrada]

How the hell can you even reasonably deny it?

Evolutionary biology is hard.

I don't wanna.

Therefore, God.

That's what "reasonable" means, right? Well, it is now, because that's how I want to use the word.

The people who don't understand evolution o to God because its much simpler to understand and learn. And, with this one sentence you never have to learn anything! "God just made it that way"

[Liriena]

I think I was either four or five years old. I was madly in love with astronomy and paleontology back then.

Damn. You beat me to it. For most of my younger life I was in some 1984-esque doublethink scenario where I simultaneously believed that the Big Bang was the reason the universe came into being, and God existed. I didn't think about the origin of the universe much when I was five. Then, once I became a grumpy teenager I figured out that this whole "God" idea didn't hold much water.

I only became very religious after I turned seven, but even then I didn't really think too much about the knowledge I had of the natural world and how it contradicted my religion. When I realized that, indeed, reality contradicted my faith, I initially thought that I could just live a 'two-minded' life, simultaneously accepting reality and religious doctrine.

Then I turned 20.

[Riiser-Larsen]

It's scientific if it's based on available evidence. God or supernatural beings are a construction of philosophy, theology, and various myths, thus the claim that the universe being created by a supernatural being is a non-scientific belief. That has nothing to do with it's validity (though it holds little water) but it is not scientific.

What's a hypothesis then?

A hypothesis is the equivalent of a guess based on available information. There is no available information which points towards either of those things, except the information that would be provided by a proven theory of theistic-evolution. It's not like scientists chuck darts at a dartboard to figure out what they're going to study, they draw conclusions based on evidence. If an argument can only be proven by the evidence it would provide if it were true, then it is not a valid argument.

[Uiiop]

Stop lying.

Page 3, it has been said and linked many times before.

I'm not lying. You just accuse me directly due to the fact that I don't belive in Evolution. If you want me to read it so bad, bring it up for me. I'm not wasting my time looking for that thing.

Right in the last page man please try to keep up:

Okay then, bring out the information.

I'd suggest you read up on scientific articles, papers, essays, and books concerning evolution. They provide more detailed information on why evolution is true than what any of us can do with a single post.

That said, Divair has a bevy of links on the validity of evolution. Regnum Dominae also has a good thread on why creationism is false.

I do hope you are genuinely interested in learning. I don't like wasting my time.

[Neo Rome Republic]

What's a hypothesis then?

A falsifiable claim.

An intelligent designer can't be falsified?

[Nightkill the Emperor]

How the hell can you even reasonably deny it?

God. It isn't reasonable, but it doesn't stop people anyway.

I'm a fairly religious guy, but I didn't see the point of trying to deny it and the only people I saw denying it were illiterate old people who didn't understand it, but they didn't, frankly, understand much.

Then I went to America and found it was somehow an issue.

[Mkuki]

Stop lying.

Page 3, it has been said and linked many times before.

I'm not lying. You just accuse me directly due to the fact that I don't belive in Evolution. If you want me to read it so bad, bring it up for me. I'm not wasting my time looking for that thing.

I've brought it up like seven times in this thread. Twice within the last two pages.

[Bentrada]

A falsifiable claim.

An intelligent designer can't be falsified?

So can intelligent design

[Temujinn]

Its pretty much proven but, do you believe in Evolution? Or do you believe humans never evolved from filthy monkey men?




this thread is probably gonna get locked by the mods

No I do not "believe" in evolution.
I "believe" in human nature.
I "believe" in my personal religion.
I "believe" I need beer to stay alive.

I accept the the commonly accepted scientific theory of evolution at face value exactly as science would... it isnt "pretty much" proven, science doesnt have a "pretty much proven" section, and to treat it like does reduces the very value of scientific thought and analysis.

Science has the beauty of being the most open minded and accepting thing since the dawn of mankind, because science ends every sentence "at least until additional data becomes available".

So do I accept evolution? Yes. I go to a doctor, who studied biology(hopefully), I take medicines designed around the biological sciences predicated on the premise of evolution, I eat food that have tinkered with by scientists who themselves learned biological sciences which are rooted in evolution.

Not only do I accept evolution in theory, I accept it with my actions everyday.

I challenge anyone who doesnt accept evolution to stand by the strength of their convictions and abstain from using any benefits of science that call to evolution in its roots...good fucking luck with that.

[Kantria]

So you are saying Theistic evolution is a religious theory.

No, it's not a theory.

Correct. It must be falsifiable to be a scientific theory and to be falsifiable it must be grounded in the natural, observable world, with which science is exclusively concerned. They aren't to be considered at all in a scientific context.

An intelligent designer can't be falsified?

Not a supernatural one.

[Liriena]

I think I was either four or five years old. I was madly in love with astronomy and paleontology back then.

Damn I didn't embrace reason until around 19.

Mind you, I had a loooooong religious-fundamentalist interregnum.

I think I was either four or five years old. I was madly in love with astronomy and paleontology back then.

Wow. You were that young when you knew anything about it?
For me, I was about 10 when I learned about it. I disapprove it, as you can see. Religious beliefs.

I was raised Catholic, so there never was an evolution vs. creationism struggle in my enviroment.

[The Tovian Way]

I did not mention Christianity specifically, but depending on how the Christian interprets the creation passages in Genesis, there is no necessary coherency problems in also accepting the theory of evolution via natural selection. It is mainly the Genesis-literal interpretation that suffers from such issues.

Actually, coherency problems would still exist even without a literalist interpretation of the Bible. It would fall unto the theistic evolutionist to explain the reason why a deity (especially an anthropocentric deity such as the Abrahamic one, which is allegedly omnipotent, omniscient and not bound by the laws of physics) create and guide our Universe through the physical laws and phenomena that we know of. Why would an anthropocentric God take billions of years to have the evolutionary process create humans? Why would an anthropocentric God make our Sun a finite (and deadly) source of energy that will eventually destroy our planet? Why would an anthropocentric God create billions of other galaxies, which we will probably never visit, and billions of planets that will be gone long before we can visit them? Why would an anthropocentric God have the evolutionary process create humans, and then wait thousands of years to show himself in human mythological texts, such as the Bible? Why are eating, breathing, drinking and sleeping be necessary concepts in this God's design? Why is the massive, deadly void of outer space a necessary concept? Why does this anthropocentric God allow so many physical obstacles, many of which our species cannot avoid?

You haven't demonstrated any coherency problems at all. I see no reason why an omnipotent, omniscient, anthropocentric God unbounded by physical laws would not create and guide our universe through the physical laws and phenomena we know of. He certainly was not bound to do so, but neither have you presented any compelling reason why He would not do so.

[Druidville]

Given the current state of the world? No, I don't.

[Utceforp]

Evolutionary biology is hard.

I don't wanna.

Therefore, God.

That's what "reasonable" means, right? Well, it is now, because that's how I want to use the word.

No wonder you're an atheist. You don't even try to see the connections scientists are bumping into that the Bible already summarized.

Like how the Earth is flat despite satellites orbiting it, how the age of the Earth is in thousands of years rather than billions despite fossils much older than that, and how some people who say Jesus the first time will still be alive during the second coming despite Christians having now waited almost 2000 years for their prophet to come back?

[Salandriagado]

A falsifiable claim.

An intelligent designer can't be falsified?

No. It makes no predictions. A hypothesis must make predictions which can be tested.

[Nightkill the Emperor]

I think I was either four or five years old. I was madly in love with astronomy and paleontology back then.

Wow. You were that young when you knew anything about it?
For me, I was about 10 when I learned about it. I disapprove it, as you can see. Religious beliefs.

Which is strange, since I come from the country with the third highest Muslim population in the world, and none of them deny evolution.

[Neo Rome Republic]

No, it's not a theory.

Correct. It must be falsifiable to be a scientific theory and to be falsifiable it must be grounded in the natural, observable world, with which science is exclusively concerned. They aren't to be considered at all in a scientific context.

An intelligent designer can't be falsified?

Not a supernatural one.

Are you telling me saying ''it's magic'' is an acceptable answer? In that case, we can disregard all biological evidence when it's comes to vampires because, they are ''supernatural''.

[Nationalist State of Knox]

God. It isn't reasonable, but it doesn't stop people anyway.

I'm a fairly religious guy, but I didn't see the point of trying to deny it and the only people I saw denying it were illiterate old people who didn't understand it, but they didn't, frankly, understand much.

Then I went to America and found it was somehow an issue.

Apparently it's the Greatest Country on Earth.

However, unlike evolution, this claim has no evidence.

[Riiser-Larsen]

Given the current state of the world? No, I don't.

The state of the world has nothing to do with the validity of science. Please be more specific.

[Mavorpen]

Nope, it's Scientific if it's a claim on the origin of our universe.

The claim that there exists a supernatural person who is the ultimate cause for the accepted scientific origins of the universe is not a scientific claim.

Which is precisely why it's false

[Aquafireland]

I'm not lying. You just accuse me directly due to the fact that I don't belive in Evolution. If you want me to read it so bad, bring it up for me. I'm not wasting my time looking for that thing.

Right in the last page man please try to keep up:

[Kantria]

Given the current state of the world? No, I don't.

Natural selection does not inevitably lead to perfection, but only to populations attaining greater suitability to an environmental niche over time. Perfection is subjective.

[Aquafireland]

I'm a fairly religious guy, but I didn't see the point of trying to deny it and the only people I saw denying it were illiterate old people who didn't understand it, but they didn't, frankly, understand much.

Then I went to America and found it was somehow an issue.

Apparently it's the Greatest Country on Earth.

However, unlike evolution, this claim has no evidence.

Knox, do you live in the USA?

[Bottle]

Speaking as a scientist, it's okay. Anti-science people can use our stuff.

I'm pretty sure at least a few of the kids who got the Salk vaccine were complete brats. That's okay. There are Young Earth Creationists who drive cars that run on the very fossilized material that, according to them, does not exist. Creationists get heart transplants, blood transfusions, and countless other life-saving procedures which only exist because of evolutionary biology and related concepts.

Science works whether they believe in it or not.

And I mean, yeah, it's pretty fucking rude for anti-science people to use our advances while simultaneously spitting on us, but we get the smug satisfaction of knowing that they are only able to show their asses on the internet BECAUSE of everything we have done for them. So it breaks even IMO.

I guess. It just irritates me. It's made that much worse since I live in Georgia.

You are right to be irritated by the revolting level of rudeness shown by the Creationists in this thread. They are choosing to be disrespectful, cowardly, dishonest, and lazy. Those are all behaviors which are unworthy of any thinking person.

I merely wanted to provide a bit of comfort. Remember that their personal failures don't actually matter, as far as science is concerned. Their feeble theology has no power over the empirical realities of this universe, nor the scientific methods for exploring those realities.

[Neo Rome Republic]

An intelligent designer can't be falsified?

No. It makes no predictions. A hypothesis must make predictions which can be tested.

We are intelligently designed, isn't a prediction?