Do you believe in Evolution?

[Bungy]

Evolution is not a belief it's an understanding, stupid question
any one who learns about it never disbelieves it.

[james mcqueen]

Do i believe in evolution. no, It is something i have accepted ever since as a child and was given the illustrated origin of species by my parents. Evolution tends to be looked at the wrong way, mainly by theists mono or poly. They do not realise that all it is, is what works, if something does not work and can not propagate it self, it will not exist.

[Edwardo Piet]

Do i believe in evolution. no, It is something i have accepted ever since as a child and was given the illustrated origin of species by my parents. Evolution tends to be looked at the wrong way, mainly by theists mono or poly. They do not realise that all it is, is what works, if something does not work and can not propagate it self, it will not exist.

I "believe" in evolution because of evidence. Evidence, not faith. This makes me passionate, not fundamentalist. Also like many have suggested here we probably shouldn't use the world "Belief" about these scientific things. But I wouldn't use the word "Know" either, because the most I can be is de-facto, and I am therefore even de-facto about whether the most I can be is de facto. I am almost certain that the most certain I can be is almost certain. I call it, De Facto @ De Facto, for simplicity. But hey, I'm weird.
So what word would I use? I'd agree with Bungy that 'Understand' is probably the best word.

[infidel666]

Do i believe in evolution. no, It is something i have accepted ever since as a child and was given the illustrated origin of species by my parents. Evolution tends to be looked at the wrong way, mainly by theists mono or poly. They do not realise that all it is, is what works, if something does not work and can not propagate it self, it will not exist.

I "believe" in evolution because of evidence. Evidence, not faith. This makes me passionate, not fundamentalist. Also like many have suggested here we probably shouldn't use the world "Belief" about these scientific things. But I wouldn't use the word "Know" either, because the most I can be is de-facto, and I am therefore even de-facto about whether the most I can be is de facto. I am almost certain that the most certain I can be is almost certain. I call it, De Facto @ De Facto, for simplicity. But hey, I'm weird.
So what word would I use? I'd agree with Bungy that 'Understand' is probably the best word.

"Understand" is good. It means not only "comprehend" but "support." And it is a lot easier to say than, "I credit evolution as the most likely explanation for the development of life in accordance with the observable phenomena." Plus, it avoids the connotation of "belief" that is a "certainty" that can only be reached by jumping to a conclusion.

[Edwardo Piet]

Do i believe in evolution. no, It is something i have accepted ever since as a child and was given the illustrated origin of species by my parents. Evolution tends to be looked at the wrong way, mainly by theists mono or poly. They do not realise that all it is, is what works, if something does not work and can not propagate it self, it will not exist.

I "believe" in evolution because of evidence. Evidence, not faith. This makes me passionate, not fundamentalist. Also like many have suggested here we probably shouldn't use the world "Belief" about these scientific things. But I wouldn't use the word "Know" either, because the most I can be is de-facto, and I am therefore even de-facto about whether the most I can be is de facto. I am almost certain that the most certain I can be is almost certain. I call it, De Facto @ De Facto, for simplicity. But hey, I'm weird.
So what word would I use? I'd agree with Bungy that 'Understand' is probably the best word.

"Understand" is good. It means not only "comprehend" but "support." And it is a lot easier to say than, "I credit evolution as the most likely explanation for the development of life in accordance with the observable phenomena." Plus, it avoids the connotation of "belief" that is a "certainty" that can only be reached by jumping to a conclusion.

I agree, Ramen to that.

[Bungy]

Using the word understand can also make religious people feel stupid if they say no to the question. "Do you understand evolution?"
You should always correct or reverse silly theists questions anyway

[Edwardo Piet]

Using the word understand can also make religious people feel stupid if they say no to the question. "Do you understand evolution?"
You should always correct or reverse silly theists questions anyway

I understand reverse - as paraphrase their question if thats what you mean or something like that? - but correct...maybe we do sometimes need to correct their questions but I often find theistic corrections very simple and easy to answer.

[downbeatplumb]

That depends on the theist.
Some have put some real thought into this and still found ways to delude themselves.
There is always a gap you can shoehorn god into.

But to answer the question of the thread yes I beleive in evolution.
Its the reason we now have drug resistant microbes, (bet it was the theists not finishing their course of anti biotics because they didnt believe it would cause changes in organisms).

Some creationsists seem to be demanding proof of maro evolution where one species miraculously changes into another.
Showing a stunning missunderstanding of the process.
They exist in a world of black and white when the world works in shades of grey gradually changing in small infintesimal steps.

and heres another quotable quote.

Theology should have its ology removed. It is not a science!

[lukec]

Evolution is not a belief it's an understanding, stupid question
any one who learns about it never disbelieves it.

Sadly untrue, I'm thinking of Kurt Wise. Studied geography under Gould, quite a smart fellow. Tried to reconcile the bible with evolution by cutting out everything in the bible which disagreed with the theory, and ended up with almost nothing. Nonetheless, he said

if all the evidence in the universe turns against creationism, I would be the first to admit it, but I would still be a creationist because that is what the Word of God seems to indicate. Here I must stand.

(Full Article Here)

Now this man was educated. How many people, given a thorough grounding in evolution, would do the same as he? I'm betting that in strongly religious countries, the percentage is higher than you'd think.



As for why the question is even being asked to a politician? I think it probably has a lot to do with whether or not they would be elected president of the United States. I wonder how many people would vote for a candidate if they knew/thought he was an atheist?

[Edwardo Piet]

Whether you're a creationist or not is an important difference! And if you have a chance of being elected its even more important I think!

Creationist presidents ain't always that smart. Kurt Wise is a very interesting exception it seems. I read about him in TGD.

I was scanning through TGD today and that was the part I was reading about actually.

Its mind-blowing that you can believe in science but have to throw it away for your God. And as it says in TGD - Kurt wise threw away all his hopes and dreams about science!
Evf