[snowballinhell]

Same reason we believe in evolutionary theory with a great deal of confidence. We keep predicting the general nature of what we will find if we keep diging, and we keep finding things where we predict we'll find them in greater abundance than we find them where we don't predict we'll find them. That is the basis of graduate educations in paleontology.
Now would that be the changes between species we are not finding that gives you "a great deal of confidence" or is it the actual lack of finding them that gives "great deal of confidence" What we seem to find as we keep digging is that what we thought before, was wrong and here is a new theory to fill the holes of the old one. Well I say keep digging!

[donh]

Now would that be the changes between species we are not finding that gives you "a great deal of confidence" or is it the actual lack of finding them that gives "great deal of confidence" What we seem to find as we keep digging is that what we thought before, was wrong and here is a new theory to fill the holes of the old one. Well I say keep digging!

Incredible as it may seem, science does not take it's marching orders, or evaluate it's progress, based on the perceptions of disaffected adherents of marginal theories who can't come to grips with inductive reasoning. I have no doubt that unless paleontologists come up with a skeleton for every species that ever drew air on the planet, that creationists will be singing the song of the gaps to anyone foolish enough to hang around and listen until the final trump sounds.

As to the story changing--we've already talked about that--of course the story changes with new data--that's how science is set up to work, but the kernel of the story of evolution has remained unmoved for long enough to make it an unquestioningly acceptable story to tell in science class.