Source+Two

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/extinction/index.html

1 **Four Evolutionists**
 * Charles Darwin**
 * Thomas Huxley**
 * Stephen Jay Gould**
 * Steven Pinker**

2 **Four Creationists**
 * William B. Riley**
 * William Jennings Bryan**
 * Henry M. Morris**
 * Phillip E. Johnson**

3** A CREATIONIST: A creationist is a person who rejects the theory of evolution and believes instead that the each species on earth was put here by a Divine Being. A Creationist might accept "micro-evolution" (changes in the form of a species over time based on natural selection), but rejects the notion that one species can-- over time-- become another species. **  4 **YOUNG EARTH CREATIONIST: A young earth creationist believes that the earth is nowhere near the 4.6 billion or so years old that most scientists estimate, but is instead closer to 6,000 or so years old, based on the assumption the Genesis contains a complete listing of the generations from Adam and Eve to historical times. **  5. **INTELLIGENT DESIGN PROPONENT: An ID proponent might or might not reject the theory of evolution. At a minimum, the ID proponent rejects that evolution is randomly driven or, more generally, the notion that natural law and chance alone can explain the diversity of life on earth. Instead, the ID proponent argues--often from statistics--that the diversity of life is the result of a purposeful scheme of some higher power (who may or may not be the God of the Bible). **  6. **EVOLUTIONIST: An evolutionist accepts the Darwinian argument that natural selection and environmental factors combine to explain the diversity of life we see on earth. An evolutionist may or may not believe that evolution is the way in which a Divine Being has chosen to work in the world. Evolutionists divide into various camps, including **  7. **PUNCTUALISTS (who believe that evolution usually occurs sporadically, in relatively short bursts, as the result of major environmental change) and GRADUALISTS (who are more inclined to believe that evolution occurs more evenly, over longer periods of time). The PUNCTUALISTS seem now to be winning the argument **    <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica;">
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica;">9. Evolution (the transformation over a long period of time from one species into another) is a fact--as well-established as any other fact in the world of science. What theory of evolution is the explanation for how that transformation occurs, and that remains a matter of some dispute. **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica;">10. Although fossil evidence sufficiently demonstrates the fact of evolution, even more compelling evidence today comes today from DNA testing of species. In the future, most of our additional knowledge of evolution will come from what we can learn from DNA. **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica;">11. To call evolution a "theory" says nothing about its ability to accurately explain facts observed in the world. The sun-centered solar system of Copernicus and Galileo is a //theory//. **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica;">12. Evolution is the central theory of biology. It is a powerful tool for explaining the presence of millions of fossils and other evidence (such as the fact that over 98% of the DNA of chimpanzees and humans is identical) about the origin of life forms. **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica;">
 * 13 <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica;">Evolution is not considered to be inconsistent with the religious beliefs of most Christians or Jews. Most mainline Protestant denominations, the Catholic Church, and many other religious faiths accept the teaching of evolution. (See, e.g., essay below describing the Pope's accepting view of evolution.) **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica;">14. There is not a single first-rate biologist* in the United States who does not believe that life on earth has developed through the process of evolution, starting with single-cell organisms. **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica;">(*This seems to be a controversial assertion. As one objective measure, consider the group of tenured members of the biology departments in the nation's fifty top-rated universities. I do not mean, of course, to suggest that all people who reject evolution are second-rate thinkers.) **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica;">15. There are disputes about evolution as there are about almost any theory. For example, most--but not all--biologists believe that evolution has not worked evenly throughout history: they believe that there have been periods of rapid evolutionary change followed by long periods of relatively little evolutionary change. **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica;">16. It took over 200 years, but eventually the Catholic Church accepted the scientific evidence that the earth revolved around the sun. Eventually, most Fundamentalists will come to accept the theory of evolution as well--whether in 20 years or in 200 is hard to say. But it will happen. Facts are stubborn things. **