> -----Original Message----- > From: C. Hatton Humphrey [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Tuesday, October 21, 2008 4:23 PM > To: cf-community > Subject: Re: Discovery Magazine article on the candidates science > policies > > I think an interesting article on the E/C debate can be read at > http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/evolution-fact.html which sums things > up this way: > "In any meaningful sense evolution is a fact, but there are various > theories concerning the mechanism of evolution." > > As someone who believes in God and Creation, it's the beginning of > evolution that I have disagreements with. That said, I know that > biological organisms do evolve to survive in their environment.
For what it's worth Darwin's Theory of Evolution (specifically Natural Selection) never actually even approaches a discussion of the origins of life (origins of species from existing life, definitely, but never the origin of life). The basic mechanisms of natural selection (and it was natural selection that was Darwin's true genius) has sometimes been applied to some idea about the genesis of life but in general evolutionary theory doesn't provide much help there. Of course one of the foundational arguments at the periphery of evolutionary theory is how we can define life in the first place. For example they've shown that chemical systems between layers of mica can actually "reproduce"... is that "life"? > The one thing I don't understand is how someone can be an evolutionist > and an environmentalist. If the theory holds true, then all that is > going to happen is evolution, which is as it should be. Biological > organisms adapting to survive in their environment. This is also a misconception: again evolutionary principles are often applied to other disciplines (social, economic, etc) but that's really not the "Theory of Evolution" (although it is good evidence for it that the principles of it are so successful in so many areas). Not everything that happens is "evolution" (or, to be specific, Natural Selection) - to be a little flippant there definitely IS "intelligent design". Man constantly designs and organizes the natural world either steering or subverting natural evolution. Natural Evolution definitely works within this framework, but man (specifically intelligence) can throw definite curve balls that wouldn't have occurred naturally. Although in general I sort of agree. Saying "draining that lake and killing off those fish" is "evolution" is wrong: it's a man-made decision. However any species that could be eradicated by such a move probably wasn't destined for much greatness in any case. Jim Davis ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:275909 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
