Monday, August 9, 2010

What evolution does not explain (and what it does explain)

Asking evolution to explain the origin of life or the origin of the universe shows gross misunderstanding of what evolution is and what it does explain.

For explaining the diversity of life on this planet and its geographical distribution now and in the past, evolution does quite well. All the evidence we can observe on this subject supports evolution, none of it falsifies evolution, and no evidence supports a literal reading of Genesis. That’s just the way it is. If you don’t like reality, take it up with your God.

Evolution was a fact before Darwin recognized it and proposed his theory of natural selection to explain that fact. It is just as much a fact of nature as gravity is, and we actually understand much more about the mechanisms of evolution than we do about those for gravity.

That we share common ancestry with other apes is at least as certain as the earth going around the sun instead of vice versa as Christians used to insist. Most of those who argue against evolution are sincerely unaware of how much evidence there is of so many different types that all point to this reality. They have been LIED to by sources they trust.