[Fester Chugabrew]

"Evolution is not a belief system."

Evolution entails fundamental assumptions concerning the origin, purpose, and destination of life and all its elements. Those assumptions in turn have a tremendous bearing on how one conducts himself toward others and the world at large. It would be disingenuous to descibe it as anything less than a belief system.

Maybe scientists are the last to admit they have any beliefs, but in the end, that's all they have. They are no better in terms of ultimate knowledge and understanding than a superstitious pigmy. I suppose we can all pretend they know it all, but I refuse to give them equal or better status in determining what goes into public school textbooks.

[Condorman]

Evolution entails fundamental assumptions concerning the origin, purpose, and destination of life and all its elements.

Maybe I haven't been keeping up. I am not aware of a theory of evolution that also addresses the origin and purpose of life. Would you mind posting a short summary of it?

[whattajoke]

Evolution entails fundamental assumptions concerning the origin, purpose, and destination of life and all its elements.

Kind sir, you really must do a bit of reading before posting something so wrong. In the millions of pages written on evolution, not a one adresses what you claim. Your post, whether purposefully or not, is an outright lie.

Maybe scientists are the last to admit they have any beliefs, but in the end, that's all they have. They are no better in terms of ultimate knowledge and understanding than a superstitious pigmy. I suppose we can all pretend they know it all

Let me guess, you don't visit doctors or dentists because they don't know medicine any better than you do? You pray for your car to fix itself rather than visiting a mechanic? When your computer crashes you shut your eyes and think real hard about it fixing itself rather than calling IT? Of course not, so let's allow biologists do their job and respect them too. Sheesh.

[Doctor Stochastic]

Evolution entails fundamental assumptions concerning the origin, purpose, and destination of life and all its elements...

This is of course false. You need to learn some biology before making such claims. Evolutionary theory says nothing about any of these. The origin of life is more of a chemistry question than a biological one. Questions of purpose or destination fall outside biology completely.

[Doctor Stochastic]

...but I refuse to give them [scientists] equal or better status in determining what goes into public school textbooks...

Do you believe that non-scientists should determine what is taught in science classes? Who are these non-scientists that you prefer? Actors, poets, politicians, lawyers, quarterbacks?

We've suffered from having non-mathematicians design math textbooks for some time now. I'm disappointed that you wish to continue such a trend.