Thursday, September 26, 2013

Evolution Moment for October

In her book, Evolution v. Creationism, Eugenie Scott, the former Director of the National Center for Science Education, wrote,

“Science operates by testing explanations of natural phenomena against the natural world. Explanations that are disproved are rejected; explanations that are not disproved—that are corroborated—are provisionally accepted.…An important element of testing is being able to hold constant some of the conditions of the test, so that a causative effect can be correctly assigned.

“The ultimate statement of creationism—that the present universe came about as the result of the action or actions of a divine Creator—is thus outside the abilities of science to test. If there is an omnipotent force in the universe, it would by definition be impossible to hold constant (to control) its effects. A scientist could control for the effects of temperature, light, humidity or predators—but it would be impossible to control the actions of God!”