Today, I was again shocked by how widely misconceptions about evolution are believed.
For the last (probably not) time:
Evolution is a theory insomuch as gravity is a theory; both are extremely reliable models that account for all new scientific findings.
Darwin's theories tell us that all forms of life on Earth share a common descent through the process of Natural Selection.
Natural Selection is a proven phenomenon.
There is no difference between Micro and Macro Evolution; both occur through the same processes.
If you compare Biology's taxonomic tree, you see that it shares many properties with family trees, except the scale is much larger.
For Example! You did not evolve from your cousin, you and your cousin evolved from a shared set of grandparents.
Ergo: Humans did not evolve from apes, we are both evolved from a common ancestor.
The Earth is BILLIONS of years old. If you care to dispute this, here is a handy guide:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_the_earthThe billions of species that have existed over the course of time could not have fit on Noah's Ark.
So, if we take a generously small amount of time (2 billion years) and divide it by the time it takes for one generation to grow and reproduce (generously large at 10 years) we have: 200 million generations in the course of life on Earth. Take into account that our bacterial ancestors could reproduce in a matter of hours, and we have a number in the high billions.
That is ample time for small mutations to add up and create many many many new species.
After all, what is a species but a mutated form of another species?
If you want to get the arguments from both sides, here are some resources:
http://www.answersingenesis.org/ - Fundamental Creationism
http://www.talkorigins.org/ - Scientific Facts and Theories
If you would like someone to explain it for you, just comment on a post from
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/This is aimed at no-one in particular, but you know who you are :)
What is LJ for if not for sharing opinions? (or in this case, facts)