In This Chapter
^ Common misconceptions about evolution ^ What the intelligent-design camp has to say
Why science in general and evolution in particular aren't anti-religion for an idea that's almost beautifully simple, evolution certainly has garnered a lot of bad press. To hear some people talk, you'd think Darwin himself was the devil incarnate; evolutionary biologists are his handmaids; and people who teach evolution in the classroom are corrupting the minds of children across the land. Can we get a little perspective, people?
I wrote this chapter specifically to provide a little perspective — and facts to arguments that tend to lack them. Here I present the arguments some people make against evolution and then explain why these arguments are wrong.
It's Only a Theory
Yes. Evolution is a theory, but not in the way the naysayers mean. When they say it's only a theory, they mean it's only an idea—a guess, if you will. But as Chapter 2 explains in quite a bit of detail, a scientific theory is not merely a best guess. It's a hypothesis that — through experiment after experiment, study after study, analysis after analysis — has yet to be refuted.
Having said that, evolution is not only a theory; it's also a fact. The key to understanding evolution is to recognize how it can be both:
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