[Lucky Dog]

No-one has come up with one yet, though. Nothing is being "disallowed" because no alternative scientific theory has been proposed.

First point: You may have missed a number of posts on this thread where theory-of-evolution advocates have vociferously insisted that the theory is "fact." Obviously, as a fact, it is not subject to challenge in their estimate.

Second point: There are respected authorities who posed intelligent design as an alternative scientific theory to evolution. (I do not happen to be one who personally puts this theory forward, but am willing to treat their theory with the same respect that I afford others.)

Third point: The current theory of evolution leaves some serious scientific questions unanswered (see post #468). Therefore, despite some who advocate that it is the "best explanation" (in deed, some maintain the "only" explanation) for observations, it must be cautiously and provisionally entertained and, then, with serious reservations.

Fourth point: Those who advocate the theory of evolution should be prepared to explain its percieved discrepancies and apparent inconsistencies in an unemotional, polite and respectful manner if they wish to convince others of their position. Fourth point:

[balrog666]

You may have missed a number of posts on this thread where theory-of-evolution advocates have vociferously insisted that the theory is "fact.

The theory explains how, the natural history of our world is the fact.

There are respected authorities who posed intelligent design as an alternative scientific theory to evolution.

Correction: There are respected authorities who posed intelligent design as an alternative scientific theory to evolution. See The Raelians

The current theory of evolution leaves some serious scientific questions unanswered (see post #468).

All answered now. Will that change your argument? Are you capable of learning?

[stremba]

It IS a fact that the allele frequencies of the gene pools of populations of organisms change over time. That is the definition of the term evolution. Therefore evolution is a fact. The theory of evolution is the theory that uses the fact of evolution to explain the diversity of life. It states that the variation over time in the gene pools of a population of an organism can lead to the formation of new species, and that all of the different types of organisms that exist came into existence in this manner. That is the theory of evolution. Actually, both are subject to challenge. In science, facts are simply observations that have been made repeatedly. They are subject to challenge. For example, new observational methods might be developed that lead to different observational results from the old methods. As a simple example, it was once taken as fact that the planets were simply stars that moved. Once telescopes were invented and spectroscopy was studied, we found out that this was not true. Planets and stars are actually very different things. The confusion in the case of evolution comes from the fact that the same term is used for both the fact and the theory. Both are subject to challenge, though, and both have been challenged by scientists over the last 150 years. The modern theory of evolution is actually a different theory from that put forth by Darwin, so these challenges have been at least somewhat successful. The changes are in the details, however, and thus far nobody has successfully challenged the basic principles of evolution.