{"id":761,"date":"2008-10-29T12:48:01","date_gmt":"2008-10-29T16:48:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/?p=761"},"modified":"2008-12-08T20:05:21","modified_gmt":"2008-12-09T00:05:21","slug":"just-the-facts-buddy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=761","title":{"rendered":"Just the facts, buddy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here is a letter published in the Lakeland Ledger today <\/a>feeding the “debate” over evolution this newspaper and its readers like to keep alive.<\/p>\n

Regarding a recent letter concerning evolution and education, the writer concluded her remarks by suggesting that one consider the difference between science and faith. Science verses faith is not the issue, what ought to be discussed is science verses fact. “If an idea cannot be tested in a manner that yields reproducible results then it simply is not part of science.” So says Tefil and Hazen, authors of “The Sciences: An Integrated Approach,” a textbook promoting evolution.<\/p>\n

Do we have the reproducible results to prove evolution? If evolution is such an obvious fact, then where are the facts? I see theories and hypothesis, and opinions, from so-called experts, but no reproducible results. The fact is, we have never observed or proved in any way that all life “evolved” from a single common ancestor. Using the scientist definition of science, evolution does not qualify as a science.<\/p>\n

In truth, evolutionists have no facts to argue. They adopt a position that “my scientist says it, so it must be true.” In this, they have simply exchanged the black robe of a religious figure for the white robe of a scientist and accept another’s interpretation instead of insisting that facts be brought forward.<\/p>\n

If one really believes in evolution, I respect that. I just want people to stop the hypocrisy of deriding faith in the Bible while insisting that we accept their faith in evolution. In every consideration, evolution is a religion, and ought to be removed from our school system on the basis of separation of church and state.<\/p>\n

LEON JENNINGS
\nLakeland<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I wonder if the textbook Jennings quoted might, just might, have some of those facts related to evolution buried in there somewhere? Unfortunately, I don’t have a copy of the book, but according to its website, there is a whole chapter on evolution<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Chapter 25 Evolution, includes significantly updated and enhanced coverage on the origin of life (especially chemical evolution), creationism and intelligent design, and hominid evolution.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Perhaps the book doesn’t cover the subject satisfactorily, though. That’s OK, because there is this wonderful thing called the Internet, which is full of useful information.<\/p>\n

Since Jennings doubts that evolution is even science, let’s start right there. Some educated folks at Tufts University offer a helpful page called “Predictions – Is Evolution Science<\/a>?”<\/p>\n

PBS has an amazing, comprehensive site about evolution with a section just for students. Jennings could benefit from an online lesson there called “Evidence for Evolution WebQuest<\/a>.” Heck, there is an entire library <\/a>on just evidence for evolution. And one last shoutout to PBS: if reading isn’t your thing, then this short video about evidence\/predictions<\/a> might help.<\/p>\n

Need more? OK, here is an article in the Washington Post titled “New Analyses Bolster Central Tenets of Evolution Theory<\/a>.” And here is an article in National Geographic asking “Was Darwin Wrong<\/a>?”<\/p>\n

We can get specific if you want. Carl Zimmer wrote a great article published in National Geographic titled “A Fin is a Limb is a Wing; How Evolution Fashioned its Masterworks<\/a>.” Shame on me if I don’t mention the University of California Museum of Paleontology’s Understanding Evolution <\/a>website.<\/p>\n

There are these crazy places called museums out there, too. The American Museum of Natural History <\/a>is a well respected intitution with all sorts of evolution related exhibits. Want to stick to Florida? That’s fine. The Florida Museum of Natural History <\/a>is pretty darn good too.<\/p>\n

With any luck, Jennings will explore this treasure trove of evolution education I’ve provided. Evolution is a fascinating subject and can easily become the focus of some folks’ life’s work. Check out the these folks at the University of Florida<\/a>, Florida State University<\/a>, and University of Central Florida<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Does all of this answer your questions, Jennings?<\/p>\n

Oh, and there is a second letter right under Jennings’. Anyone care to tackle that one? It’s a doozy!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here is a letter published in the Lakeland Ledger today feeding the “debate” over evolution this newspaper and its readers like to keep alive. Regarding a recent letter concerning evolution and education, the writer concluded her remarks by suggesting that … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcZNLl-ch","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2021,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2021","url_meta":{"origin":761,"position":0},"title":"Surprising survey results","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"February 14, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The Orlando Sentinel has a \"Friday Back Talk\" section on the opinion page. The paper poses a question online, offers some multiple choice answers and then on Friday announces the results along with a handful of readers' comments. This week the main question was: Should FL schools teach evolution? Surprisingly,\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 28 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 28 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2021#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":873,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=873","url_meta":{"origin":761,"position":1},"title":"What’s happening in Texas","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"January 22, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"A couple of Florida newspapers ran stories this morning about the fight over evolution instruction in Texas. 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They haven't done a resolution yet, but they want to: SEBRING \u00e2\u20ac\u201d Four of five members of the School\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "In the News"","block_context":{"text":"In the News","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":363,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=363","url_meta":{"origin":761,"position":4},"title":"Has it hit you where you live yet?","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"December 31, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The battle over evolution continues at a fierce pace, as we discover in the Palm Beach Post today. Three new counties are now added to our watchlist: St Lucie, Palm Beach, and Martin. However, we need to keep our eyes on the ball. 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