Maybe *your* ToE doesn't, Doc, but back in the day it was cool for evolutionists to address how life began. You guys are getting soft.
Renowned Harvard paleontologist George Gaylord Simpson wrote: "Evolution is a fully natural process, inherent in the physical properties of the universe, by which life arose in the first place, and by which all living things, past or present, have since developed, divergently and progressively (The Implications of Evolution, 1960, 131:969).
Simpson also wrote: "First, there is the theory of evolution in the strict sense. This states that all living organisms have evolved from common ancestors in a gradual historical process of change and diversification. The theory rejects the notion that all organisms were designed and created at the beginning of time (Life: An Introduction to Biology, Simpson, et al., 1957, pp. 25-26).
The famous zoologist P.D. Darlington wrote: "The outstanding evolutionary mystery now is how matter has originated and evolved, why it has taken its present form in the universe and on the earth, and why it is capable of forming itself into complex living sets of molecules. This capability is inherent in matter as we know it, in its organization and energy.... It is a fundamental evolutionary generalization that no external agent imposes life on matter. Matter takes the form it does because it has the inherent capacity to do so. This is one of the most remarkable and mysterious facts about our universe: that matter exists that has the capacity to form itself into the most complex patterns of life (Evolution for Naturalists, 1980, pp. 15,234).
There's even websites available! If one chooses to learn more about Darwin and the beginning of life - they can go here ToE and Life's Origin
Care for a good read?Soup anyone?
I found this stuff in about 10 minutes. If I had more time on my hands I'd start looking into academic texts for more examples of evolutionists attempting to explain life's origin.
Maybe the smart evolutionists (yeah - I'll even include you) have given up on a natural origin? It seems the ToE has evolved.
All you've shown is that many of the people who accept the theory of evolution also believe that it can be used to explain the origin of life (ie. through abiogenesis). It still is true that the theory of evolution in and of itself does not speak to the origin of life. The theory of evolution only deals with what happens after life has arisen. It is not logically inconsistent to hold that evolution is true and that God created life (the Catholic church,for example, holds that its believers may accept evolution as long as they also believe that God at some point in the process gave man a soul). It is also logically consistent to believe in panspermia and evolution (although this seems to me to be pushing the question back, not answering it. ie if life came from space, where did the life in space come from?) It is logically consistent to hold any belief about the origin of life and evolution simultaneously. From a scientific point of view, abiogenesis is certainly the most attractive belief, but as of now, it isn't a scientific theory, just speculation.