[music_code]

I am more interested in what working scientists think. Among working scientists, evolution isn't a point of contention at all.

This is not correct. There are many 'working scientists' who firmly reject evolution. Out of that group, some are creationists, but many others are not.

Among those scientists who subscribe to evolution, two things must be noted:

1. By the candid admission of at least one prominent evolutionist, "There is absolutely nothing about evolution that anyone knows with certainty." This man, a distinguished scientist, put the question to a roomful of evolutionists: "Concerning evolution, what do we know for certain?" There was dead silence in the room.

The obvious point is, even the evolutionists themselves can't agree on what they "know". That means evolution does not even pass the laugh test as a valid theory, let alone established fact.

2. It is not evolution per se that is accepted among this group, but rather a prior commitment to the religious philosophy behind evolution that is common to them all. This is a group of people with a decidedly materialistic worldview, who are committed to keeping God out the picture.

[js1138]

If I said I don't believe your quote, you would give the reference, wouldn't you?

[CarolinaGuitarman]

"This is not correct. There are many 'working scientists' who firmly reject evolution."

No, actually, I am correct. About 95% of working scientists accept evolution. Of the 5% that don't, only a very small part are comprised of people actually working in fields related to evolution.

There is no controversy in science about evolution; it's a controversy only among certain religious circles.

"By the candid admission of at least one prominent evolutionist."

Who is he? Citations are in order.
BTW, NOTHING is certain in science.

"The obvious point is, even the evolutionists themselves can't agree on what they "know". That means evolution does not even pass the laugh test as a valid theory, let alone established fact."

The disagreements are over the process, not that evolution happened, or whether common descent is a fact.

"It is not evolution per se that is accepted among this group."

Yes it is. Don't lie, it's not nice.

"but rather a prior commitment to the religious philosophy behind evolution that is common to them all. "

There is no religious philosophy behind evolution.

"This is a group of people with a decidedly materialistic worldview, who are committed to keeping God out the picture."

God doesn't appear in ANY scientific theory. Science is not capable of investigating untestable claims like whether or not God exists.

Most people in the USA who accept evolution are Christians.

You need to do a little better than this if you want to make a decent argument.

[js1138]

I have googled all kinds of variations on this quote and found no hits at all. This is rather unusual, because you can generally find google hits on any random set of words.

Aside from the quote being bogus, it is completely inconsequential, because no honest and intelligent person would say he knows anything for certain. Even the assertion that you exist doesn't say anything about how you exist or whether your body might be bits in someone's computer program.

What an honest biologist would assert is that common descent is as certain as any historical knowledge can be.