Why the religious will never admit you won the argument (and why they don't care)

[SteveII]

Thanks for your reply - taking your points in reverse order:

Your view of evolution is common among people who haven't studied science - I don't mean to be rude, it's actually a complex issue. What you're saying is "Look, evolution doesn't explain everything, therefore you can't disprove Creationism/ID." But, the way science approaches it, evolution isn't all or nothing, but it based in fact. Evolution isn't true because it disproves creationism, it's true because is based on observed facts and many types of evidence - check out this short video:  I also highly recommend Professor Richard Dawkins' book The Selfish Gene or The Greatest Show On Earth.

In Science, the word 'Theory' is used differently than in colloquial use, it doesn't mean just some possible explanation - this would be called a Hypothesis. The theory of something in science is the current best model of how all of the observed facts go together to create a model that is consistent and reliable and produces results - e.g Quantum theory. The "theory" of Evolution By Natural Selection is a model of how it works, but common ancestry and change over time are observable facts.

When you have two possible explanations for something, you have to look at the evidence for each to know which if either is correct. However, just because you disprove one, you haven't necessarily proven the other - it too could be wrong, and you should reserve belief until it has been demonstrated in its own right. Even if evolution were proved wrong tomorrow (which is impossible) it wouldn't mean creationism or ID is true - they would still need to be demonstrated. Otherwise the correct answer isn't one or the other, it's "I don't know." At the moment, the evidence for ID is non-existent, and mostly to the contrary.

For an atheist, evolution is all or nothing. The problem is "evolution" can have multiple meanings that you can use at will to make sentences like "Evolution isn't true because it disproves creationism, it's true because is based on observed facts and many types of evidence"

What observed facts prove the mechanism that went from single cell to complex systems? 

What observed facts prove that all life evolved from a common ancestor?

Don't spout theories, you said there were observable facts that prove evolution.