What is your take on evolutionary theory? Do you believe it is a fact?

● Evolution is very much a fact.

● The theory of evolution is a theory - just like atomic theory and gravity theory. The word "theory" has a very specific meaning in a scientific context: THE THEORY EXPLAINS THE FACTS. See http://www.notjustatheory.com/

● Over 99.8% of scientists in relevant fields accept evolution.

● There are no alternative scientific theories.

● There is a huge amount of evidence in support of evolution...

● And zero evidence against it.

● The 'discussion' is actually educated people trying to educate others.

● The more intelligent a person is, the more likely they are to understand and accept evolution.

● The "discussion" only happens in backward places like Turkey and parts of the united states.

● There are two types of creationists: professionals who make money from books, lectures and such, and knowingly make false claims - and followers who accept those claims without understanding them.

● Examples of ridiculous creationist anti-science: http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=Thunder...

● Examples of creationist quote mining (like quoting part of a scientists' sentence to make it sound like he's saying something completely different): http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/quotes/mine/projec...

● Scientific American's 15 answers to creationist nonsense: http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=15-answers-to-...

● The evolutionary tree: http://www.dhushara.com/book/evol/trevol.jpg

● Hominid species: http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/species.html

● Transitional fossils: http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CC/CC200.html

● A comprehensive list of evolution resources: http://richarddawkins.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&...

Some of the predictions of the theory are fact.

Like adaptive radiation.

We can observe this in several generations of short lifespan animals and they tend to maintain genes that insure survival in a particular environment.

But as an overall theory there are still gaps that need to be filled.

For the most part is the most rational explanation of how life operates on our planet.

Did you know that they isolated the gene that caused scales to mutate in feathers in chickens?

In doing so they were able to switch the gene off and hatch chickens that had scales.

This is strong evidence to support the idea that dinosaurs did not become completely extinct but rather some evolved into modern birds.

Did you know that humans and chimpanzees share of 94 percent of similar DNA arrangement.

This is very strong evidence that we are relatives.

As far as I am concerned evolution, despite some inconsistencies, is sound and valid.

Evolution as a continuing process is a fact. We know it happens, happened and will keep happening. The theory is how evolution works. The same goes for any other scientific theory. Theory: A well defined explanation of a known set of facts. Webster's.

Your question does not belong in this section.

I believe it is the most valid and factual theory we have at this point, has been tried and tested, however, I feel there are things that are not explained by evolution, and that is why the study of it cannot be allowed to become stagnant or complacent while there are still questions to answer.

There is something more to learn.

Worldview? Erm...I'm a Celtic pagan/ancestor veneration/fam. trad. witch believer. I'm also a democrat, with conservative leanings on gun control?

I think it is the best explanation we currently have, a hundred years from now it will look vastly different than it does now. For that reason I wouldn't call it fact; but that an evolutionary process took place I would call fact.

I am an Orthodox Christian.

It is a fact, in that it is a scientific model that accurately reflects what we see in the world, just like gravity or atomic theory does.

EVERY person I have ever met who says they "don't believe in evolution", has turned out to be CLUELESS about the subject. They can't even show an understanding of the most basic information about it.

When I see somebody saying lines like "We didn't come from monkies [sic]", "You have to be an atheist to believe in evolution", or "It's just a theory", then it's CLEAR to me that they haven't made any effort to actually learn about the subject.

I guess these people don't understand that you simply can't summarize the entire science of species diversity in one paragraph of layman's terms. You need to actually sit down with some books and learn new vocabulary words like "allele", "genus" and "abiogenesis". This IS rocket science.

Evolution is a theory, and it is also a fact. I don't "believe" it is a fact. Evidence has shown it to be a fact, and so I accept it as one.

Theories are made up of facts.

Evolution is a naturalistic theory which offers the most compelling model within the naturalistic framework of how life originated and came to its present various forms.

Like all theories and ideas there are those who reject and those who dogmatically claim what it is not: fact.

I'm with Thomas Jefferson, who apparently believed in it, though I oppose his reasons for his belief:

"The movements of the heavenly bodies, so exactly held in their course by the balance of centrifugal and centripetal forces; the structure of the Earth itself, with its distribution of lands, waters and atmosphere; animal and vegetable bodies, examined in all their minutest particles; insects, mere atoms of life, yet as perfectly organized as man or mammoth;......

"while permitted [by what he called God] to exist in their present forms, and their regeneration into new and other forms. "

http://www.deism.com/deism_vs.htm

You didn't know the theories went back that far, did you? Everyone thinks it began with Darwin. I don't know where Jefferson got his ideas from, but he was a consummate naturalistic scientist, one of the best in his day.

Evolution: an observable process.

Natural selection: the prevailing theory that best explains the process of evolution. One of several theories, but the one most supported by empirical evidence.

Sorry, but evolution is not a theory.