Photo of the Creation Museum's saddled Triceratops
Colloquially, most people use the word "theory" to mean "guess." We'll give our "theory" on who we think will win the Superbowl or the Presidential primary. But scientists don't use it that way. A scientific theory is, according to AOL's online dictionary:
"1 : the analysis of a set of facts in their relation to one another "
Facts, you see, not a guess. When an hypothosis makes its way to scientific theory, it is made up of facts, and is thiiiissss close to being absolute fact itself. But in our dumbed-down society (see post here), we can be bullied into going with the colloquial definition. Just like we can believe that expressing disdain for President Bush means a person is somehow anti-American, we can go with the idea that evolution is "just a theory." It's embarrassing.
[Excerpt]
Florida will teach evolution but only as theory
Florida education officials voted on Tuesday to add evolution to required course work in public schools but only after a last-minute change depicting Charles Darwin's seminal work as merely a theory.
Bending to pressure from religious conservatives, the State Board of Education on a 4-3 vote included the "theory" language as part of a retooling of the state's science standards for public school education. . .
Read more at: Reuters
if we assume that most of the Florida science teachers are in fact educators (as opposed to religious wing-nuts), then i'm sure they will do a good job of explaining why it's known as the THEORY of Evolution. Score : Knowledge 1; Fundamentalist Tripe 0.
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