Whenever you listen to a creationist talk about evolution, it usually
does not take very long for the creationist to show his ignorance. My
biggest point is when you hear something like, "Evolution is just a
theory!" Creationism is a theory too, and so is inteeligent design.

Well the truth is that eveolution IS a theory, but creationism and
intelligent design are not: they are hypotheses. A theory is the
highest position something can hold in science, It is not an idea that
someone comes up with to test; rather it is a hypothesis that has been
tested time and time again and has been shown to statistically hold up
tp its premise.

A hypothesis is an educated guess. But after lots of testing and lots
of peer review, and endless retesting, a hypothesis that holds up after
intellectual rigor is a theory.

Science is not about 100% absolute proof. At best we have statistical
methods like a t-test, an F-test or a Chi Squared Analysis that say
that the possibility of this happening by chance alone is less than X
percent. Many analyses hold up to 99.999%, some only 99.5% and and some
as low as 95%. We call this number the confidence interval and the
confidence limits. If we wat something to hold up to .001 Confidence
limits, we want our statistical analysis to say that there is a 99.999%
chance that the variations seen in the data were not do to chance
alone.

You cannot speak of something as 100% Confidence Limits in science.
There is always some small statistical doubt (far less doubt than OJ
killed Nicole and Ron Goldman, or that Michael Jackson has a thing for
little boy dicks.) This is not reasonable doubt, or possible doubt;
rather it is much more stringent statistical doubt.

An example I like to use is the corner stone of modern cytology, know
as the cell theory of biology anf basically states that all life is
made up of cells. Is this a fact that your body has cells in it? NO! NO
IT's NOT! But statistically, it is as close to that as possible.

And that is the same way with evolution. Is it possible that God put
down all these misleading clues to fool us? Yes, but it is not likely.
Evolution makes sense and it wold take a powerful force to stop it from
happening. We know that when an organism acquires a feature that helps
it survive or it uses a feature it already has to survive because of
climate change orgeographic isolation, it survives and passes it down
to its offspring. Step by step linear logic.

Many people lump all aspects of evolution together, and this confuses
the issue. FIrst of all, the least certain aspect of evolution is
abiotic synthesis, This is the time when non-life became alive. There
are many hypotheses about this that fit much of the data, but nothing
conclusive.

Another problem people have is the idea that humans evolved from
monkeys, and considering we have about 98-99% of the same DNA
sequences, it seems likely that this occured or God did not start from
scratch when he made each knew species. THis is an outgrowth of the
idea known as the missing link: this basically says that we have never
found a fossil of a species right when it changed from one species to
the next. But this is not quite true. Every year more and more fossils
showing the transition from one organism to the next are being found.
Archeoptyrix seems to be a direct connection from birds to dinosaurs.
Pythons seem to be the missing link between snakes that had 2 back legs
to a completely legless creature (Pythons retain two little spurs made
of bone where the legs once were that contiue to be used in mating.

Also, so you can sound educated when debating a creationist, note that
there are 2 main types of evolution. Normal evolution is called
phyletic gradualism, and happens very slowly, at an near constant rate,
mutation by mutation, until eventually the two organisms can no longer
interbreed and have sexually productive young.

The other (more recently agreed upon) type of evolution is call
punctuated equilibreum, and it happens at a much quicker pace, Usually,
it is the result of a sudden change in climate or geographical
isolation, or a new predator or prey source. The organism in question
adapts suddenly to occupy this ecological niche and becomes a new
species in as few as 10 -100 years, particulary when communities become
isolated and can no longer interbreed.

But make no mistake about it: Just as there are cells in your body,
species mutate, and evole. If you are looking for a way to put God into
it, fine, but don't forget the underlying premise which is inviolate.

MobiusDick