school paper12:54 Nov 27 2006
Times Read: 550
Evolution
By
Ashley Clark
Evolution has been a debate between people for years now. People of religious belief argue that god made the Earth and everything in it including humans. But people of scientific belief believe we evolved from monkeys.
Religious belief
Fundamentalists and other Evangelical Christians: A key belief system of these faith groups is their belief in the inerrancy of the Bible. Since Genesis 1 describes how God created the universe, and in a certain sequence, there is no doubt that he did exactly that. Rev. Jim Harding of the Utah/Idaho Southern Baptist Convention commented: "We were created by God; we didn't just evolve by accident. It was not a process of moving from one animal form to another, but rather, as Genesis teaches, that each was made in its own order. In fact, [humans and animals] were made on different days. process of moving from one animal form to another, but rather, as Genesis teaches, that each was made in its own order. In fact, [humans and animals] were made on different days." (religioustolerance)
These churches have accepted and even promoted the theory of evolution for decades. Although there are many unresolved details about the evolution of species on earth and of the matter and energy in the rest of the universe, scientists have reached a consensus on the broad mechanisms of evolution.
(http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu)
Most researchers agree that the universe originated at a "Big Bang" some 20 billion years ago. Some matter coalesced into stars of which our sun is one. The earth and other planets coalesced out of stellar material many billions of years ago. (religioustolerance)
A few billion years in the past, the first elementary forms of life appeared; these evolved into the multiplicity of species that we see today, including humanity.
Scientific Belief
Scientists at the beginning of the 1800s know of some kinds of fossils, and they were very aware of homologous and vestigial structures. Many scientists suspected that some kind of evolution had given rise to living things around them. (bioweb)
However, they had no unifying theory to explain how evolution might have occurred. Two scientists led the way in the search for a mechanism of evolution. The first was Jean Lamarck. The second was one of the greatest figures in biology, Charles Darwin.
(Bioweb/pic of Darwin)
Charles Darwin (1809-1882), like many people of genius, did not at first appear to have extraordinary talents. From a young age Darwin disliked school and preferred observing birds and collecting insects to study. He was sent
to medical school in Scotland when he was 16.
Young Darwin found medicine "intolerably dull." He was much more interested in attending natural history lectures. Seeing that Darwin lacked enthusiasm for becoming a doctor, his father suggested he study for the clergy.
Darwin was agreeable to the idea and enrolled in the university at Cambridge, England, in 1827. Here again, Darwin admitted, "My time was wasted, as far as the academic studies were concerned." However, Darwin found that his friendship with John S. Henslow, professor of botany, made life in Cambridge extremely worthwhile. Through long talks with Henslow, Darwin's knowledge of the natural world. (bioweb)
In 1837 Darwin began his first notebook on evolution. For several years Darwin filled his notebooks with facts that could be used to support the theory of evolution. He found evidence from his study of the fossil record: he observed that fossils of similar relative ages are more closely related than those of widely different relative ages.
Comparing homologous structures, vestigial organs, and embryological development of living species gave him additional evidence of evolution. He consulted animal and plant breeders about changes in domestic species. He ran his own breeding experiments and also did experiments on seed dispersal. (Bioweb)
Darwin compiled evidence for evolution by natural selection for about 20 years. Between 1842 and 1844 he wrote a 230-page essay summarizing his theory and the evidence for it. In the 1850s he began working on a detailed, multivolume book to present his theory to the scientific community.
Darwin might never have completed the book if another British scientist, Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913), had not come up with the same idea in 1858. While living in the Malay Archipelago in the Pacific Ocean, Wallace formulated his theory and wrote it in an essay, which he sent to Darwin. Darwin's fellow scientists persuaded him to let them present his theory and Wallace's essay jointly at a scientific meeting. The presentation excited very little attention, according to the modest Darwin. (Bioweb)
As you can tell there are many facts and theories about evolution. But which one is the rights theory. If I guess it depends on the individual’s beliefs.
Sites
Www. Bioweb.com www.adamandeve.com
Www. Religioustolerance.com
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