Often I hear them claiming to have "evidence" for those claims. Some even claim that "evidence" to have the same level of sophistication than real science.
There are many people who, like you, believe that evolution is science while creation is religion ... but is that true? This is at the heart, the underlying, or the core issue of the debate. The purpose of this post is to help shed some light on the issue...
It is valid to make a distinction between the two main types of science: origins science and operational science. As the name suggests, origins science deals with the question about the origins of something or some event in the past, which is by definition unique, unobservable, and unrepeatable. By contrast, operational science involves understanding how something operates in the present, which by definition is repeatable and observable. (Batten, D. 2002)
Oh come on. There is no debate at all about this within the scientific community. It precisely the aim of creationist propaganda to pretend being science, whilst it infact is not even closely. Can you cite any research favouring creationism that has been peer-reviewed? At which universities are those scientists that you have in mind teaching? What's their field of expertise? Maybe an article in nature/science/cell ? I'd be most happy to actually see some science done by creationists, instead of empty claims without any supporting evidence. If it weren't for creationist crackpots who seem to endlessly assert that bilogists got it all wrong, there would be no debate about the topic at all. Seriously not a topic in the scientific community at all. The real topic of discussion within the scientific community is on how to actually defend the scientific method from religious propaganda of the most hideous and dishonest kind. There may be discussions about creationism vs. evolutionism on the internet (because the faithheads simply cannot admit defeat here), but there really isn't any amongst the scientific community.
What's wrong with radiometric dating then? You think that the theory of radioactive decay is wrong? Where? Show an experiment where it fails, please. If you accept the theory of radioactive decay then you have no reason at all to reject radiometry. What assumptions are made? Can you name some, maybe? It's a very precise physical theory. We are using it to construct the most precsise clocks that mankind has ever seen. But off course the experts of the field got it all wrong, and some creationist crackpots have the ultimate truth here, right?It should be obvious that microbe-to-man evolution is a unique process that happened in the past. It can't be directly tested or observed, and it most definitely cannot be repeated. The tests and experiments that are done here and now in the present that relate to the past tend to be quite limited and often require a lot of assumptions to be made to fill in the many unknowns (a prime example of this may be the assumptions behind the radiometric dating, such as the initial composition of parent/daughter elements, for example).
The theory of evolution (science) is influenced by experimental observation. It is one of the most rigorously verified theories of all human theories ever. Whereas there is not one single peace of convincing evidence favouring that creationist horseshit. I repeatedly asked to show me some research that has been done indicating otherwise. Where is it?The further the event is in the past, the more assumptions are involved. The same is true of creation: it is a unique event that occured in the past that can't be directly tested or observed or repeated.
So, both evolution and creation fall into the origins science category. It should be obvious that both sides have the same data (i.e. observations in the present) yet somehow they come up with different interpretations or stories. The question has to be asked, why? Both creation and evolution are influenced by philosophical beliefs. Creation is obviously influenced by the Bible, but evolution is also largely influenced by materialism...
Were are those other interpretations of the data? I ask again that you show me respective research papers.So some of the parts that you call 'real science' are actually outside the realms of science, that is to say that they are not directly observable, testable, or repeatable. The creation vs. evolution debate isn't religion vs. science, it isn't a debate over the data, it's a debate about the right interpretation of the data. To be blunt: at the core of the debate it is one over clashing philosophies.
Fair enough. Evolution is certainly not a disputed theory. It is a scientific theory, yes. The word theory is obviously not used in the same way by scientists as by creationists. It's the equivocation fallacy of the century.Anyway, I got distracted and forgot to address the question. It doesn't really worry me whether or not they teach creation in secular schools, but just as long as they teach evolution in its proper context (that is, evolution is an unproven theory that largely deals with origins science) and that they make the nature of the debate clear to students ... then the students can make an informed decision about what they want to believe. That is showing and encouraging critical thinking, which is an important skill for later education at university.
References:
Batten, D. (2002). 'It's Not Science'. Creation Ministries International. Retrieved online 10 August 2008 from: creationontheweb.com/content/view/2480
That is not peer-reviewed science. The fact alone that it comes from "Creation Ministries International" clearly shows that it is about pushing a certain faith and not about scientific inquiry. I again ask you to show me peer-reviewed research.
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