Is evolution just a theory? It is true that evolution is called the “theory of evolution,” but the context in which the word “theory” is used here can be mistaken.
When someone applies theory to political science or the liberal arts for example, the context is an opinion that is difficult to observe or verify. When someone applies theory to science, the context is a scientific theory can be tested and proven and therefore generally accepted. Take gravity for example. Although the existence of gravity is a fact, it is still known as the “theory of gravity.” The same goes with the “general theory of relativity” and all other generally accepted scientific phenomena.
Because evolution can be tested and proven from a considerable amount of sources, it becomes the “theory of evolution.” There are several methods to prove evolution such as the fossil records and the way fossils are found throughout the Earth’s strata layers. For example, you will never find fossilized human remains in the same strata layer as dinosaur remains. Every biological science and several chemical sciences, DNA and radiation dating are just some of the other methods that point to evolution.
The Earth is much older than the Bible writes about. Evolution shows that life started out as very simple organisms that over hundreds of millions of years adapted to become much more complex. Intelligent design is no longer a valid explanation as to how life came about on Earth. And it’s frustrating religious fundamentalists because they are watching science push God out of the picture.
One can argue that science cannot explain everything. This is true. Science has revealed how little we do know and that we are just scratching the surface as to how the universe and life came to be. When confronted with something that cannot be explained, science would say, “we don’t know yet.” A religious person would say, “God did it.” Which response is more honest?
Evolution is just that, a theory. This means it can be tested. It can be proven. Science looks for compelling answers and disposes of assumptions.
Lee Pasternak, St. Albert
