Can someone help me explain to family members that evolution is scientific fact?

Question

I believe it's possible that evolution and creationism can coincide but the majority of Christians refuse to even consider this as being possible because they've been told since birth that it's not so they convince themselves that it isn't, despite obvious proof. The fact is, evolution happened and is happening rather you choose to accept it or not. The proof is all around us. Humans have vestigial organs and a vestigial tail. Why would we have a vestigial tail if at one point we didn't have tails? We don't use a few of our organs (appendix, tonsils, adenoids, etc...) Apes do. Snakes have vestigial legs which proves that at one point they did. Also, I've never met a single Christian that can explain dinosaurs. How did a whole species of animals come into existence and die out within, supposedly, only a few thousand years. This just isn't possible. It's funny in fact. It's also impossible for the layers of sediment to have built up over their fossils in only a few thousand years.

Answer 1

Before you try to prove this type of thing, you should FIRST ask  "What kind of proof would make you change your mind?"

If they say "nothing", then it can not be done.   If they say some sort of other answer, you just have to do what they say.

Answer 2

In my experience, people like that do not want to expand their knowledge, they just want reassurance that they're right, regardless of the truth of the matter.

However, if you wish to pursue this course, here are my two favorite websites on evolution that can help you:

http://evolution.berkeley.edu/

http://www.talkorigins.org/

The first is an excellent start, and a wonderful resource on all things evolution related.

The second is a site devoted to the evolution/creationism debate, and provides a Q&A section responding to every creationist claim out there with facts, research, and sources.  Every question has a source to where they got the Q, and every response has sources so the reader can check its validity.

Good luck! :)

Answer 3

Well evolution is a theory. It is also a fact. And facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world's data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. Facts don't go away when scientists debate rival theories to explain them. Einstein's theory of gravitation replaced Newton's in this century, but apples didn't suspend themselves in midair, pending the outcome. And humans evolved from ape-like ancestors whether they did so by Darwin's proposed mechanism or by some other yet to be discovered.

Moreover, "fact" doesn't mean "absolute certainty"; there ain't no such animal in an exciting and complex world. The final proofs of logic and mathematics flow deductively from stated premises and achieve certainty only because they are not about the empirical world. Evolutionists make no claim for perpetual truth, though creationists often do (and then attack us falsely for a style of argument that they themselves favor). In science "fact" can only mean "confirmed to such a degree that it would be perverse to withhold provisional consent." I suppose that apples might start to rise tomorrow, but the possibility does not merit equal time in physics classrooms.

Evolutionists have been very clear about this distinction of fact and theory from the very beginning, if only because we have always acknowledged how far we are from completely understanding the mechanisms (theory) by which evolution (fact) occurred. Darwin continually emphasized the difference between his two great and separate accomplishments: establishing the fact of evolution, and proposing a theory--natural selection--to explain the mechanism of evolution.

Answer 4

Well, at least you realize it's fact.  But I've spoken to several die-hard creationists, such as the ones that run our Baptist student center on campus, and I don't think anything could ever convince them they are wrong.  They didn't come to the conclusion they hold based on facts or reason, so no amount of facts or reason will ever sway them.  It's pretty depressing.  

I think many of them don't realize how science actually works, or how science is done.  Or how much research actually has gone into evolution.  Maybe if you could find a way to expose them to science, that would help.

http://www.talkorigins.org

Based on some of the answers, it appears part of the problem is with basic scientific terminology.  A theory is never elevated to a fact; it's already above one.  Theories CONTAIN facts and laws and rules, they tell you not only WHAT will happen but WHY it happens.  (Almost) no one would argue that electricity or gravity don't work, but they will always be considered theories.  How evolution happens is the theory of evolution, but it is a fact that it does happen.

Answer 5

The problem is that evolution is a theory. It is never been conclusively proven. There is tremendous evidence that it may exist but no one has ever found the conclusive proof that it is, in fact, real. In order to believe in evolution you have to take the preponderance of the evidence and then take a leap of faith to get to the conclusion. Not to far from the creationist theory. There is no proof that any evolution has occured since modern humans appeared on the earth. Some Christians point to this as proof that God made numerous creations but stopped after creating modern man.

I believe that creationism and evolution can live together happily. What if God created the world and set into motion a process that would eventually lead to where we are to day? Maybe God created evolution. Maybe we are a long way from where the earth and the creatures on it will be when God is done creating. Maybe there is still a second week of creation out there waiting to happen. The truth is nobody really knows. We all take the evidence we have and make our own conclusions.

Answer 6

Why dont you just get over yourself and let them believe what they want to believe?