Evolution is the Only Reasonable Explanation for the Diversity of Life on Earth

This blog posts continues my series on "Things We Know to Be True", inspired by the November 2016 issue of Scientific American.  One of their top 5 things known to be true is evolution.

"Evolution is the Only Reasonable Explanation for the Diversity of Life on Earth"

I'm not an evolutionary biologist so I can't describe the detailed research behind this.  However, that is not a reason to not accept the widely accepted research on this done by the biology focused scientific community.  The experts have done their research and continue to do their research.  It is now VERY clear life arrived as a result of evolution.

Are there still questions?  Absolutely, but having questions does not throw away all of the scientific findings thus far.  Simply because there are still questions does not mean you get to throw away the science in favor of your belief.  In my life, there was never much controversy around evolution during biology class in school.  Maybe there was and I was blind to it, but it never seemed a problem.  In fact, it wasn't until much later in my life when I first came across people who stated evolution was a lie and touted a 6,000 year old Earth!  Yikes!  And now it seems as if every other person I encounter thinks evolution is somehow a lie spread by Satan.  Double yikes!!!

Sadly, too many people ignore the science of evolution in favor of their own personal beliefs that are not founded in any evidence.  Thus the reason for further promotion of critical thinking skills in schools, as I mentioned in yesterday's blog post.  My daughters have not encountered anti-evolution in school yet, but we've had talks about how old the Earth is.  In those talks I've shared with them how some people believe the Earth is 6,000 years old, but science shows us the Earth is 4.5 billion years old and the Universe is 13.8 billion years old.  In fact, when they were younger, we read the book "Grandmother Fish" several times.  A great book for teaching young kids the basics of evolution and how to think.

Just yesterday I saw a advertisement for a T-shirt that said:

"Science Doesn't Care What You Believe"

Absolutely true.  Believe what you want but science will always trump someone's beliefs.  In this case, a belief in a 6,000 year old Earth is trumped by the overwhelming science supporting evolution.  Oh, and the next time someone asks you how evolution can be true if there are still monkeys, respond by telling them that evolution does NOT say man came from monkey.  Evolution says man and monkey both evolved from a common ancestor.  Sigh.  That question is a huge pet peeve of mine and shows nothing but ignorance of the person asking.  They've taken no time to investigate evolution at all before attempting a snappy statement to attempt (and a very poor attempt at that) to debunk evolution.  SMH.  

Okay, that's it for today.  I'm starting to go into rant mode.  :-)  Stay tuned for more in this "Things We Know to Be True" series.