No one should believe in evolution!

[Quintessence]

I blame Creationists who have tried to weaken evolution and put it into a position of a belief, such as how they came up the silly and absurd term "evolutionist."

Did Biblical creationists come up with the term? Not sure that's the case, but I'll check the OED when I'm back at the university on Monday (if I remember... lol).

 

[Cacotopia]

I am of the firm opinion that no one should ever believe in evolution. Belief is based of placing faith in something. Evolution is a scientific theory. No should ever accept a scientific theory by faith. One can believe in many things properly, such as the innate value of people, or that your favorite sports team is the greatest. But scientific theories aren’t like those. Scientific theories can be accepted as correct, or assented to, or tested and verified, or a host of other empirical and scientific actions. But to believe in a scientific theory is an oxymoron.

Whenever I encounter someone that says they believe in evolution I roll my eyes metaphorically and think to myself that here is someone that lacks a genuine understanding of evolution and science.

I will now don my asbestos suit and await comments.

you don't need faith for ideas and theories backed by facts.

 

[QuestioningMind]

I am of the firm opinion that no one should ever believe in evolution. Belief is based of placing faith in something. Evolution is a scientific theory. No should ever accept a scientific theory by faith. One can believe in many things properly, such as the innate value of people, or that your favorite sports team is the greatest. But scientific theories aren’t like those. Scientific theories can be accepted as correct, or assented to, or tested and verified, or a host of other empirical and scientific actions. But to believe in a scientific theory is an oxymoron.

Whenever I encounter someone that says they believe in evolution I roll my eyes metaphorically and think to myself that here is someone that lacks a genuine understanding of evolution and science.

I will now don my asbestos suit and await comments.

Thankfully the ToE has MOUNTAINS of verifiable EVIDENCE to back it up, so silly faith is not required in order to accept it as a reality.

 

[stvdv]

I am of the firm opinion that no one should ever believe in evolution

I have evolved over the last 50 years. I do not need science to confirm this.

 

[ADigitalArtist]

Did Biblical creationists come up with the term? Not sure that's the case, but I'll check the OED when I'm back at the university on Monday (if I remember... lol).

I actually don't think it was. I think Evolutionism/ist was a term used to contrast against Lamarkism long before YECs and ID got involved.

 

[Skwim]

I am of the firm opinion that no one should ever believe in evolution.

Okay, a rather bizarre opinion to be sure, but I think all of us agree you're entitled to it.

Belief is based of placing faith in something.

Er, you've kind of got it backward, Shaul.

Belief is simply an acceptance that a statement is true or that something exists.
Faith is trust in a belief.

Evolution is a scientific theory.

No. Evolution is a particular process of change in organisms. Where evolutionary theory comes into play is in explaining this process.

No should ever accept a scientific theory by faith.

And they don't. They accept the various theories of evolution based on evidence.

One can believe in many things properly, such as the innate value of people, or that your favorite sports team is the greatest.

Ooookay.

But scientific theories aren’t like those.

No they're not.

"A scientific theory is a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world, based on a body of facts that have been repeatedly confirmed through observation and experiment. Such fact-supported theories are not "guesses" but reliable accounts of the real world."
Source: Wikipedia​

Scientific theories can be accepted as correct, or assented to, or tested and verified, or a host of other empirical and scientific actions. But to believe in a scientific theory is an oxymoron.

I'm afraid your ignorance of the nature of scientific theories has got you chasing your own tail.

Whenever I encounter someone that says they believe in evolution I roll my eyes metaphorically and think to myself that here is someone that lacks a genuine understanding of evolution and science.

Okay. But I am curious as to the metaphor you're alluding to.

.

 

[Father Heathen]

I blame Creationists who have tried to weaken evolution and put it into a position of a belief, such as how they came up the silly and absurd term "evolutionist."

If people who accept the theory of evolution are "evolutionists" or "darwinists", then people who accept the theory of gravity are "gravitationists" or "newtonists".

 

[Hockeycowboy]

I am of the firm opinion that no one should ever believe in evolution. Belief is based of placing faith in something. Evolution is a scientific theory. No should ever accept a scientific theory by faith. One can believe in many things properly, such as the innate value of people, or that your favorite sports team is the greatest. But scientific theories aren’t like those. Scientific theories can be accepted as correct, or assented to, or tested and verified, or a host of other empirical and scientific actions. But to believe in a scientific theory is an oxymoron.

Whenever I encounter someone that says they believe in evolution I roll my eyes metaphorically and think to myself that here is someone that lacks a genuine understanding of evolution and science.

I will now don my asbestos suit and await comments.

Yep, that's an opinion.

 

[Jumi]

I am of the firm opinion that no one should ever believe in evolution. Belief is based of placing faith in something. Evolution is a scientific theory. No should ever accept a scientific theory by faith.

No one should accept the Germ theory of disease, the Atomic theory or bunch of other things that are common sense today? What's your proof that they're wrong.

 

[Jumi]

I blame Creationists who have tried to weaken evolution and put it into a position of a belief, such as how they came up the silly and absurd term "evolutionist."

Well how else could they criticize it, when they usually have no idea what it is about and just devour all sorts of non-sense about it?

 

[Jumi]

Not really. Believe always implies acceptance based of faith. That is antithetical to science, the basis for the theory of evolution.

That's just apologetics and word games. I wonder if you know how much arguments such as you're presenting here contribute to the decline of religion and why all the well-educated kids these days are leaving religion? It's not because of evolution, but how creationists present their non-sense with. You can see the Catholic church accepting evolution and their following hasn't decreased as much as your religions.

 

[Sunstone]

Eh, I try to avoid verbal gymnastics like this the same way I avoid 'atheism is the lack of belief' because its a repetitive and not very constructive diversion from more interesting topics imo, and just ends up looking like intellectual strong-arming.

If someone asks me if I believe in evolution, I'll say yes so we can move on.

Not me! I don't "move on"! I begin by studiously questioning the legitimate births of their ancestors. Then I work my way up to their personal hygiene, all the while pretending to be solicitous of their health and well-being. Finally, I oh so casually drop my conviction that their gods are incestuous. Then I dash off!

Works every time! I've already had two dozen invitations to commit suicide and one proposal of marriage (same thing, in my case).

 

[Sunstone]

Seriously, the OP's point would be perfectly trivial -- or even, perhaps, misinformed -- were it not for the fact that many creationists play semantic mind games in which they equate a belief in evolution with faith. Therefore, it can actually be of some value to head off such mischief by using the term "accept" in lieu of "belief".

 

[Hockeycowboy]

You mean, scientists never believed these were accurate?:

Superseded scientific theories - Wikipedia

IMO belief is simply a step short of knowing a certainty.
For example, in post #12, you used the word "than". I know that. You should have written "then". I know that, too.

I believe you didn't do it on purpose. But I could be wrong.

You're playing a semantic game here....let me know who wins.

 

[Sunstone]

....let me know who wins.

That would me. I always win! Mom said so!

 

[Jumi]

You mean, scientists never believed these were accurate?:

Superseded scientific theories - Wikipedia

There's a good one right there...

Transmutation of species, Lamarckism, inheritance of acquired characteristics – first theories of evolution. Not supported by experiment, and rendered obsolete by Darwinian evolution

Wonder who still believes even older superseded theories that aren't supported by observation or experiment?

 

[The Kilted Heathen]

Did Biblical creationists come up with the term? Not sure that's the case, but I'll check the OED when I'm back at the university on Monday (if I remember... lol).

I actually don't think it was. I think Evolutionism/ist was a term used to contrast against Lamarkism long before YECs and ID got involved.

Wikipedia offers a decent history of the word.

 

[Thaif]

Having looked at the evidence over the years, I believe in Evolution. Next topic?

Having looked at the evidence over the years, I believe things can change given time, so while I don't believe in the Darwinian mechanics of evolution, I believe things can change given time. For example, we can breed a species of cat that has a fair chance of having green eyes. This, of course, proves that things can change given time.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

If people who accept the theory of evolution are "evolutionists" or "darwinists", then people who accept the theory of gravity are "gravitationists" or "newtonists".

Yup. And, of course and obviously, we do use those terms, or similar terms like germists, magnetists, or Ohmists. No one "believes" in gravity, but when it comes to this scientific theory that directly stands opposed to a literalist Creation account of Genesis suddenly we "belief" in evolution and they are called "evolutionists."

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

I am of the firm opinion that no one should ever believe in evolution. Belief is based of placing faith in something.

This is not a normal understanding of the word “believe.” It’s much more common to use the word to just mean “accept as true.”

For instance, one common definition of “knowledge” is “justified true belief.”