Gebre Menfes Kidus said:
PeterTheAleut said:
Then why are you so afraid of the legitimate science of evolutionary theory? Because it undermines your false images of what true faith really is?
I am not at all afraid of legitimate science. I'm just very careful not to confuse philosophical dogma with scientific evidence.
Gebre Menfes Kidus said:
As Orthodox Christians, we cannot ignore the philosophical implications of science. And regarding evoltuionary theory, I will continue to point out that it is a scientific philosophy, not an empirically verified scientific law.
PeterTheAleut said:
Actually, Gebre, evolutionary theory is neither a scientific philosophy nor an empirically verified scientific law.
I beg to differ. Evolutionary theory (i.e. macro evolution) is a scientific philosophy, not empirical fact.
Selam
I have a lot of sympathy with your position, Gebre, but I think your use of terms is both confused and confusing to others.
In science, all "empirical facts" are "theories" which could be disproven by a single instance of a theory-shattering phenomenon. For example, if I dropped an apple tomorrow in ordinary conditions (
ceteris paribus) and, instead of falling to the ground, it simply hovered in the air, the "theory" of gravity (which we pretty much all treat as an "empirical fact" these days) would suffer a massive blow, if not be outright disproven. I mean, tomorrow, the earth could start to rotate in the other direction, throwing all sorts of other "empirical facts" into profound doubt.
I think what you are getting at is that the empirical
evidence for macro-evolution is comparatively scant in comparison to other, more well-established scientific theories such as gravity and the basic laws of physics (I think you also have another, better-put-separately point about the near-religious quality evolution
ism exhibits in this society -- is that correct?).
I think a lot of good points coming from your side of this debate are lost when the terms are not put right.