- Evolution does not preclude the hand of God in anyway, there is no reason that Evolution could not be a perfect system set up by the guy in the sky himself but there is no way to prove such a set up scientifically, it is a religious belief.
I think I grew up in a fairly unique home, with a devoutly religious father who also happens to be an anthropologist by trade. I appreciate now that he would never "tell me how it is" about evolution. He encouraged me to thoughtfully draw my own conclusions. I dont think they meant to, but cgod and mk do a pretty good job of describing where I sit. There is a lot of room for god in the discussion, but I can't imagine trying to "debunk" evolution. I once had a pretty enthusiastic creationist tell me that early hominid fossils were just fakes that god put on earth to test out faith. I think I've said this before on hubski... I believe in god. And I think he believes in us and wants us to push limits when it comes to understanding science and the universe. But I'm a little weird like that.
I was up till 2am debating this with my father in law last night. I found myself wishing that you and mk were there to help make the discussion more interesting. He is convinced that the world is 6000 years old. No matter what I said, it mattered not. Regardless of how frustrating, it was a civil exchange and a really interesting insight in to the mind of a devout evangelical.
I have been embarrassed by some of the things I used to "know". What I've come to "know" is, that I know nothing. There are things I can experience with the senses, but they can be fooled. There are things I can try to disprove with the scientific method and then accept the results. There are several things I believe in. There are things I have faith in, and hope for - but in the end, I know that I know nothing. I think people confuse "knowing" something with deciding something. It's super easy to believe that the earth is six thousand years old. You just decide it, and stop accepting notions to the contrary. It's much easier to "know" something when you don't even entertain contrary arguments. I can't do that though. I don't like being a fool. I really hate feeling stupid (I've had years of experience doing this).