re: #96 ralphieboy

Evolution is a theory, one that is backed up by facts from nearly every branch of science.

I would be in favor of firing any teacher who says it is a fact, that would demonstrate a basic lack of understanding of science and how it works.

Which seems to be a major problem in this country in general and in the GOP in particular

Confusing the scientific use of the word theory with the mundane use is a standard and stupid technique of science deniers everywhere. It is a word game based in ignorance. What most people think of as a theory (as in anything that someone might believe to be true) is usually, in science, at best, a weak hypothesis.

In lay person terms, a scientific theory is something that has been proven to be fact beyond any standard set in any court of law. Is the theory of heliocentrism (the sun at the center of the solar system) a fact? Yes. It is a fact as much as anything can be a fact outside of pure mathematics. Is evolution a fact? Yes, it is a fact as far as anything can be proven outside of mathematics.

It becomes endlessly frustrating to have to re-write this over and over again. A mature theory like evolution has literally billions of observations confirming the correctness of the theory. We see it happening in real time with anti-biotic resistant bacteria. We see it happening in the fossil record. We see it encoded in our very own DNA when we find all sorts of commonalities with other organisms and an entire history of gene expressions turned on and off. I could write for a dozen pages about all the ways this has been shown to be true and still only scratch the tip of the iceberg.

So yes, it is a fact. I repeat a fact. A glaring obvious fact that has been shown to be true countless times.