So...me personaly after alot of reading.... Evolution wins....

[sandrajo]

Which do you believe?

Creationism
Evolution
A little of both

[WaldoMcFroog]

Evolution.

[chakka35]

"Believe" is not a word you can apply universally here.

Belief is essential to creationism because that is all it comprises. It has no substance.

But it doesn't matter to evoution whether you "believe" it or not: it is an established scientific principle which doesn't depend in the least on mere credulity.

[WaldoMcFroog]

A good point Chakka. I saw a good article on that very point just yesterday:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?* ******=90311455

[WaldoMcFroog]

Weird - that's bowdlerized the URL. Ah... I see why; an anti semitic URL!

The starred out bit should be 's t o r y I d' but without the quotes or any gaps between the letters. It's the last three that have caused the problem.

[Octavius]

A little bit of both.

[Davethedog]

When science started to uncover the facts the undermined or destroyed the beliefs that underpinned religion, certain Christian factions couldn't accept that all that they had followed with blind faith was wrong, they needed an "alternative" christian ethic and so Creationism was born.

It has no history, no written word beyond the last twenty years. It has no prophets beyond the skewering of the old religion by the new.

Creationism - Scientologists.

If there wasn't a God someone would have to invent one - Voltaire

[WaldoMcFroog]

No, no, no, Dave. That's about as confused as confused gets.

Creationism as a specific term referring to those who believe in a literal creation as described in Genesis became popularised in the first decades of the 20th century.

There was some case in the mid 70s in the US, which settled that the teaching of creationism violated the First Amendment to the US constition that separates religion from the state. After that the most dominant form was 'Creation Science', which attempted to prove the creation using the scientific method. The courts determined that wasn't science in the late 80s, after which you get ID.

Intelligent Design has only been around for about 20 years, and *that's* rebranded Creation Science.

It certainly isn't Scientology.

[jake-the-peg]

How did the first life come to be?...it's a mystery

How did the first life come to be?...life here was created....how did the creator come to be?....it's a mystery

How did the first life come to be?...life here was created....how did the creator come to be?....he was created by a giant Robot callled Sparky....how did sparky come to be....it's a mystery

Do I hear William of Occam sharpening up his razor?

[WaldoMcFroog]

What's the lyrics/poem, JtP?

[naomi24]

I would say evolution, but for anything to evolve, it has to evolve from something - and that something is the fly in my own personal jar of ointment. I don't believe the biblical God exists, and feel that perhaps the universe, in one form or another, has always been. A difficult concept to grasp, but perhaps it had no beginning, and as it has in the past, it will simply continue to evolve for all eternity.

[jake-the-peg]

Er no lyrics - just me.

Mind you if I have a spare few hours sometime ....

[WaldoMcFroog]

There is a terminology issue here, of course.

A creationist will tell you their belief covers from nothing to now and not only explains how life began, but also explains the life we currently see on the planet.

An evolutionist will tell you that the theory of evolution doesn't attempt to explain how life began (and never claimed it could) but explains the change in allele frequency over time.

As someone who believes the theory of evolution, I'm entirely happy that the answer to the question 'where did life come from' is currently, 'we don't know'. There are many theories, some seemingly more credible than others, but the jury is out at the moment.

However
1) that undermines evolution not one jot
2) Just because we don't know doesn't mean that therefore God must have done it

Incoming canards fully expected.

[naomi24]

Just because we don't know doesn't mean that therefore God must have done it

Absolutely right.

[keyplus90]

Yes that is right. To evolve from something that Something has to be there in the first place. You do not evolve something from nothing. Only God can do that and that is what he did. He created something from nothing and then with his will it did evolve as time went by. This is a very simple equation, however if you do want to make it confusing then centuries have gone past and will perhaps go past and no one would be able to understand. Certain things you just can not understand using your Given intelligence which is in fact very limited. You would think you have solved the mystery only to see something new around the corner. That is exactly scientists are proving and one day these scientist will prove and admit the existence of God.

[Octavius]

Hmm, after weighing up all the "evidence" above:

.... A little bit of both.....

[naomi24]

My intelligence is limited? That's rich coming from someone who unquestioningly believes in something for which there is not one iota of evidence.

[jake-the-peg]

God is just another way of saying "shut up and don't ask awkward questions"

It's essentially intellectual surrender

[123everton]

I think K90 is alluding to the phrase that there are greater things on Heaven and Earth, I don't think it's an actual personal attack on anyone just the mention that we none of us can understand God's plan, or everything on the Earth.
As for evidence, there's no evidence for your alien theory either.
I'm for a little bit of both (but that God is the driving force of life on Earth), and a large helping of it's no skin off my nose what you think.

[jake-the-peg]

I don't care what you think either

Just stop teaching religion in state schools and get the bishops out of the house of Lords and you can believe what the hell you like.

[naomi24]

Everton, My theory is just that - a theory. I don't declare it to be fact. And at the risk of exposing my inferior intelligence yet again, spot on Jake.