presentation by M. Waterman 12/17/2006
The mechanism of evolution is based in these four fundamentals: variation, inheritance, natural
selection, and time.
A group of genetically variable organisms of the same species exists.
These variations are inherited.
There is a competition for resources, both among members of the group and between groups.
As a result of this competition, some of the organisms that have variations that make them better at
the competition, have more offspring than others. This process leading to differential reproduction is natural
selection.
Over a long period of time the species changes.
What are some human ways of knowing?
Science
Natural
world
History
Past human
events
How
Evidence
based on
observation
Evidence is
artifacts
How we
decide “truth”
Logic
Logic
Focus
Art
Interpretation
and reaction
to world
Artist’s
personal
reaction,
Laws
Acceptable
behaviors
Faith
Supernatural
Socially
constructed
cultural
norms
Culture
Evidence is
NOT asked
for. It is
believing
without
seeing
Mechanisms
of knowing
by faith are
not
understood
presentation by M. Waterman 12/17/2006
I.
Authors of the highest eminence seem to be fully satisfied with the view that each species has been
independently created. To my mind it accords better with what we know of the laws impressed on matter by
the Creator, that the production and extinction of the past and present inhabitants of the world should have
been due to secondary causes, like those determining the birth and death of the individual. . . .
It is interesting to contemplate a tangled bank, clothed with many plants of many kinds, with birds
singing on the bushes, with various insects flitting about, and with worms crawling through the damp earth,
and to reflect that these elaborately constructed forms, so different from each other, and dependent upon each
other in so complex a manner, have been produced by laws acting around us. . . .
There is a grandeur in this view of life with its several powers, having been originally breathed by the
Creator into a few forms or into one; and that, while the planet has gone circling on according to the fixed
law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and
are being evolved.
II.
"Collaboration between religion and modern science is to the advantage of both, without at all
violating their respective autonomy. Just as religion requires religious freedom, so science
legitimately claims freedom of research."
"Cosmogony and cosmology have always aroused great interest among peoples and religions.
The Bible itself speaks to us of the origin of the universe and its makeup, not to provide us with a
scientific treatise, but in order to state the correct relationships of man with God and with the
universe. Sacred scripture wishes simply to declare that the world was created by God, and in order
to teach this truth it expresses itself in the terms of the cosmology in use at the time of the writer.
The sacred book likewise wishes to tell men that the world was . . . created for the service of
man and the glory of God.
Any other teaching about the origin and makeup of the universe is alien to the intentions of
the Bible, which does not wish to teach us how heaven was made but how one goes to heaven."
What is each author’s view of evolution?
What is each author’s religious beliefs?
Would either or both of these authors be a member of this church?
presentation by M. Waterman 12/17/2006
Evolution “quiz”
T = true, F = false
_____1. Evolution is just a theory and just as good as the theory of creation.
_____2. The theory of evolution is about the origin of life.
_____3. Due to natural selection only the fittest survive.
_____4. Evolution is both observable and testable.
_____5. Evolution and a belief in God are compatible.
_____6. Most biologists believe in evolution.
_____7. Most major religions support the theory of evolution.
_____8. The theory of intelligent design is based on good science.
presentation by M. Waterman 12/17/2006
Drew Smith teaches 9th grade in a public jr. high school in a state that requires both the JudeoChristian biblical and the scientific evolutionary accounts for the diversity of life on earth be
taught. The curriculum is clear about what science is and what is not science. It strives to
acknowledge both explanations for the diversity of life on earth.
Some parents have been complaining. The school principal asks Drew for advice on how to talk with
the parents.
CHOOSE EITHER A OR B, and help Drew outline a way that the principal can respectfully explain
the curriculum to these parents.
A. Some parents complain that religious ideas are being taught as science.
or
B. Some parents complain that the school is teaching children to believe in evolution and not
the Bible.
presentation by M. Waterman 12/17/2006
from: http://www.ncseweb.org/resources/articles/9213_the_creationevolution_continu_12_7_2000.asp
presentation by M. Waterman 12/17/2006
Links
http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evosite/evohome.html Teaching Evolution. Excellent, reputable
National Science Teachers Association resources for evolution teaching
http://nsta.org/evresources
National Center for Science Education is a reputable resource for information on Evolution teaching. It has
links to many types of resources. Go to http://www.ncseweb.org/link.asp?category=1 to see the kinds of
links. Includes links to creationist sites.
http://www.talkorigins.org/ A website devoted to discussion of evolution/creation controversy.
http://www.eskeletons.org/ The e skeletons project. Look at bones from various primate taxa, view,
examine, rotate.