Defining The Theory of Evolution and Darwinism
By E. I. Sanchez on Jan 20, 2010 | 625 views | 9 feedbacks »In the Christian Alert's Statement of Faith, we have item #18 that says "No to evolution" -- but that was more of a conversation teaser than sound scientific thought.
What is pure scientific thought however is the following definition of evolution:
Prof. Francisco Ayala, Renaissance Man of Evolutionary Biology, defines evolution as follows:
There are three different Aspects of Evolutionary Theory:
- Descent with Modification: Living Organisms are descended with changes from earlier organisms. It is in this sense that evolution is an incontrovertible fact.
- Evolutionary History: Tracing the lineage of biological organisms back in time to reconstruct a universal tree of life that goes back to a primordial ancestor.
- Mechanisms of Evolution is what explains evolution. In our common era these are: Genetic mutation and natural selection. This is what Ayala calls Darwinism. What Darwin discovered.
Source: Reasonable Faith Podcast November 30 2009. And the William Lane Craig vs. Francisco Ayala Debate MP3
This definition is what we will use here at the Alert going forward.
p.s. - below is another definition of evolution (aka Darwinism).
Jerry A.Coyne, whose book Why Evolution is True I'm reading, defines evolution as:
The modern theory of evolution can be summarized in a single sentence: Life on earth evolved gradually beginning with one primitive species - perhaps a self-replicating molecule - that lived more than 3.5 billion years ago; it then branched out over time, throwing off many new and diversed species; and the mechanism for most (but not all) of evolutionary change is natural selection. Six components in all: evolution, gradualism, speciation, common ancestry, natural selection and nonselective mechanisms of evolutionary change (source).
9 comments
Darwin didn't "discover" evolution either. He merely came up with the Theory of Natural Selection.
As for different descriptions of what Evolution is... How many definitions are there of Christianity? And that's just one branch of the word Religion...
Ayala's definition is memorable so i'll use it if I remember it :-)
Would you say that Gravity is a fact? You hold something out at arms length, let go and it falls. Gravity - Fact.
You put some bacteria in a testube, leave for two weeks and it's completely different. Evolution - Fact.
Newton defines gravity as a force that attracts all objects together. Einstein says it is due to the curvature of space-time. Theories.
The bacteria that were in that test tube were there because the natural factors of environmental resistance tend to eliminate those members of a population that are least well adapted to cope and thus, in effect, select those best adapted for survival and reproduction. Natural Selection - Theory
Evolution is as much a fact as Gravity and like it or not, Natural Selection is as solid as Einstein's Theory of General Relativity.
What you are talking about above is purely semantics, not the events that take place as organisms evolve and why some survive over others.
As I've always said, as far as I'm concerened Evolution doesn't disprove God, I didn't believe long before I understood Evolution. Most of the Christian world believe in both, it's only really your country and places like Turkey that don't, personally I'd be embarrassed by that
And a little bit of hope...lol
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