Posted on 01/28/2005 4:28:41 PM PST by metacognative
The scholarly literature on the New Testament books is (of course) huge and easily accessible. There is no attempt here to discuss them individually. Here is their approximate order of composition:
I and II Thessalonians
~50 CE
I and II Corinthians
54-56
Galatians
~56
Romans
56-57
Colossians
~61
Philemon
~61
Philippians
~62
Gospel according to Mark
65-70
Gospel according to Matthew
80-85
Acts and Gospel according to Luke
85-90
Hebrews
85-90
Gospel according to John
90-100
Revelation of John
~95
Ephesians, James, and I Peter
95-100
I, II, and III John
100-110
I and II Timothy and Titus
110-130
Jude, II Peter
130-150
An early Christian authority is included in this survey if he or it gives important evidence on the development of the canon of the New Testament (perhaps even having some influence on it) and did so before ~400 CE, when the first complete manuscripts of the Vulgate were issued. The early 'authorities' fall into these categories:
Authority | Date CE | Form of evidence provided on the development of the canon of the New Testament |
---|---|---|
Ignatius of Antioch | ~110 | 7 letters with quotations and allusions to Christian writings as scripture. There are no citations by name. |
Polycarp of Smyrna | ~110 | 1 letter with ~100 quotations and allusions to Christian writings as scripture. There are no citations by name. |
Marcion | ~140 | founded a sect with its own "New Testament" collection. There was one Gospel, based mostly on the Gospel according to Luke |
Valentinus | 140-150 | Valentinus and his followers - Heracleon, Ptolemy, Marcus - were Gnostic heretics so their doctrines mostly survive in the writings of the orthodox, such as Irenaeus, who summarized the Valentinian views before attacking them. The Gospel of Truth from Nag Hammadi probably derives from the Valentinians, but this is not certain. |
Justin Martyr | 150-160 | many of his writings survive; he was the most prolific Christian writer up to his time. |
Irenaeus | ~180 | two of his writings survive in translations (Latin and Armenian). There are quotations and allusions to Christian writings as scripture, and citations by name. |
Clement | 180-200 | many of his writings survive; in them are about 8000 citations - over 1/3 of them from pagan sources. There are citations by name. |
Tertullian | 200-210 | Tertullian was the most prolific writer of the Latin Fathers in pre-Nicene times (before 325 CE). There are citations by name. |
Muratorian Canon | 200-300 | a manuscript discovered in the Ambrosian Library in Milan with a catalogue (in Latin) of the New Testament writings with comments |
Origen | 220-350 | only a small part of his works survives, but this fills volumes There are citations by name. |
Eusebius | 300-330 | much of the works of Eusebius survives, but here we only use his famous classification in [Eusebius] |
codex Sinaiticus | ~350 | a manuscript discovered in 1859 containing a 4th-century New Testament |
Athanasius | ~367 | his 39th Festal Epistle of 367 CE has a list of canonical books |
Didymus the Blind | 350-398 | some of his exegetical writings have survived, including six commentaries discovered in 1941 |
Peshitta | ~400 | a series of manuscripts of the Bible in Syriac including 22 New Testament books |
Vulgate | ~400 | a series of manuscripts (over 10,000) of the Bible in Latin, whose New Testament coincides (more or less) with the present one |
SPOTREP - Science, Philosophy of - Survive
1. It is an illusion, and doesnt really exist
2. It has always existed
3. It created itself
4. Something else created it.
I'd say we are stuck between gussing between three and four.
gusseing ----> GuEssing.
No, actually, they're not. Congratulations, your understanding of mathematics hasn't progressed beyond what was known in the mid-1850's...
With the advent of consistent non-Euclidean geometries in the 19th century, it was realized that postulates are *not* "truths outside the proof-system", and there are in fact opposing postulates which can still be used as the foundation of consistent, meaningful formal systems.
The Holy Text and Revelation at Sinai are not hypotheis nor theory, they are Primal Truth.
That's one hypothesis, certainly.
Odd, I don't feel hysterical or panicked at all... Perhaps this fellow is overstating his case.
The theory of evolution is a tottering house of ideological cards
Someone hasn't been keeping up with the science journals, I see...
Some people think that Evolution is "theoretical".
Others, make sure that they take all the antibiotic, lest they evolve a super bug within their body that will kill them and perhaps many others.
There are people who've died from such things, you know. It's hardly "theoretical" for them.
They're dead.
New Tagline Test;
Why are you bearing false witness like this?
Provide an example where I have not been objective.
It appears that there is some intelligent design to your daughters education. That will give her a great advantage in the future.
Before that only one celled creatures and algae were around and not for 2.5 billion years.
Google "Edicarian fauna" and get back to us.
Shh... It's not fair to confuse anti-evolutionists with facts.
Personally, I believe Evolution is a tool of God, and the rules read just like stereo instructions to humans.
I also figure that an all-knowing entity who can only describe himnself as "I Am" without frying your brain would use such tools as easily as we may blink our eyes, and that no matter how many years of effort we place in learning the "how too's", unless we're they're to witness it, the method will evade us.
I stll deem it a worthy study. It's fascinating, and that God is all over the details.
You shouldn't have conceded the point on pre-Cambrian animals. Do a Google search on "Vendian Fauna" and you'll get a boat-load of sites showing the Cambrian fauna did not spring, full-blown, from "one cells and algae."
Yes, indeed, anti-evolutionist "analysis" is about on the level of sophistication and knowledge as a nine-year-old. Thanks for the example.
Meanwhile, could you ask your little girl for her critique of the following papers? It sure would be a boon to the world of science if your nine-year-old could shed some light on these ongoing productive lines of research. Thanks.
On the origins of cells: a hypothesis for the evolutionary transitions from abiotic geochemistry to chemoautotrophic prokaryotes, and from prokaryotes to nucleated cells William Martin and Michael J. RussellAnd:Abstract: All life is organized as cells. Physical compartmentation from the environment and self-organization of self-contained redox reactions are the most conserved attributes of living things, hence inorganic matter with such attributes would be lifes most likely forebear. We propose that life evolved in structured iron monosulphide precipitates in a seepage site hydrothermal mound at a redox, pH and temperature gradient between sulphide-rich hydrothermal fluid and iron(II)-containing waters of the Hadean ocean floor. The naturally arising, three-dimensional compartmentation observed within fossilized seepage-site metal sulphide precipitates indicates that these inorganic compartments were the precursors of cell walls and membranes found in free-living prokaryotes. The known capability of FeS and NiS to catalyse the synthesis of the acetyl-methylsulphide from carbon monoxide and methylsulphide, constituents of hydrothermal fluid, indicates that pre-biotic syntheses occurred at the inner surfaces of these metal-sulphide-walled compartments, which furthermore restrained reacted products from diffusion into the ocean, providing sufficient concentrations of reactants to forge the transition from geochemistry to biochemistry. The chemistry of what is known as the RNA-world could have taken place within these naturally forming, catalyticwalled compartments to give rise to replicating systems. Sufficient concentrations of precursors to support replication would have been synthesized in situ geochemically and biogeochemically, with FeS (and NiS) centres playing the central catalytic role. The universal ancestor we infer was not a free-living cell, but rather was confined to the naturally chemiosmotic, FeS compartments within which the synthesis of its constituents occurred. The first free-living cells are suggested to have been eubacterial and archaebacterial chemoautotrophs that emerged more than 3.8 Gyr ago from their inorganic confines. We propose that the emergence of these prokaryotic lineages from inorganic confines occurred independently, facilitated by the independent origins of membrane-lipid biosynthesis: isoprenoid ether membranes in the archaebacterial and fatty acid ester membranes in the eubacterial lineage. The eukaryotes, all of which are ancestrally heterotrophs and possess eubacterial lipids, are suggested to have arisen ca. 2 Gyr ago through symbiosis involving an autotrophic archaebacterial host and a heterotrophic eubacterial symbiont, the common ancestor of mitochondria and hydrogenosomes. The attributes shared by all prokaryotes are viewed as inheritances from their confined universal ancestor. The attributes that distinguish eubacteria and archaebacteria, yet are uniform within the groups, are viewed as relics of their phase of differentiation after divergence from the non-free-living universal ancestor and before the origin of the free-living chemoautotrophic lifestyle. The attributes shared by eukaryotes with eubacteria and archaebacteria, respectively, are viewed as inheritances via symbiosis. The attributes unique to eukaryotes are viewed as inventions specific to their lineage. The origin of the eukaryotic endomembrane system and nuclear membrane are suggested to be the fortuitous result of the expression of genes for eubacterial membrane lipid synthesis by an archaebacterial genetic apparatus in a compartment that was not fully prepared to accommodate such compounds, resulting in vesicles of eubacterial lipids that accumulated in the cytosol around their site of synthesis. Under these premises, the most ancient divide in the living world is that between eubacteria and archaebacteria, yet the steepest evolutionary grade is that between prokaryotes and eukaryotes.
The emergence of life from iron monosulphide bubbles at a submarine hydrothermal redox and pH front M. J. RUSSELL & A. J. HALL: Department of Geology and Applied Geology, University of GlasgowAnd:Abstract: Here we argue that life emerged on Earth from a redox and pH front at c. 4.2 Ga. This front occurred where hot (c. 150)C), extremely reduced, alkaline, bisulphide-bearing, submarine seepage waters interfaced with the acid, warm (c. 90)C), iron-bearing Hadean ocean. The low pH of the ocean was imparted by the ten bars of CO2 considered to dominate the Hadean atmosphere/hydrosphere. Disequilibrium between the two solutions was maintained by the spontaneous precipitation of a colloidal FeS membrane. Iron monosulphide bubbles comprising this membrane were inflated by the hydrothermal solution upon sulphide mounds at the seepage sites. Our hypothesis is that the FeS membrane, laced with nickel, acted as a semipermeable catalytic boundary between the two fluids, encouraging synthesis of organic anions by hydrogenation and carboxylation of hydrothermal organic primers. The ocean provided carbonate, phosphate, iron, nickel and protons; the hydrothermal solution was the source of ammonia, acetate, HS", H2 and tungsten, as well as minor concentrations of organic sulphides and perhaps cyanide and acetaldehyde. The mean redox potential (ÄEh) across the membrane, with the energy to drive synthesis, would have approximated to 300 millivolts. The generation of organic anions would have led to an increase in osmotic pressure within the FeS bubbles. Thus osmotic pressure could take over from hydraulic pressure as the driving force for distension, budding and reproduction of the bubbles. Condensation of the organic molecules to polymers, particularly organic sulphides, was driven by pyrophosphate hydrolysis. Regeneration of pyrophosphate from the monophosphate in the membrane was facilitated by protons contributed from the Hadean ocean. This was the first use by a metabolizing system of protonmotive force (driven by natural ÄpH) which also would have amounted to c. 300 millivolts. Protonmotive force is the universal energy transduction mechanism of life. Taken together with the redox potential across the membrane, the total electrochemical and chemical energy available for protometabolism amounted to a continuous supply at more than half a volt. The role of the iron sulphide membrane in keeping the two solutions separated was appropriated by the newly synthesized organic sulphide polymers. This organic take-over of the membrane material led to the miniaturization of the metabolizing system. Information systems to govern replication could have developed penecontemporaneously in this same milieu. But iron, sulphur and phosphate, inorganic components of earliest life, continued to be involved in metabolism.
The Path from the RNA World Anthony M. Poole, Daniel C. Jeffares, David Penny: Institute of Molecular Biosciences, Massey University(Note: The above papers are a few years old -- anyone who tries to rebut them without familiarity with the amount of confirmation of those scenarios which has already come flooding in the past few years is only going to make an ass of themselves...)Abstract: We describe a sequential (step by step) Darwinian model for the evolution of life from the late stages of the RNA world through to the emergence of eukaryotes and prokaryotes. The starting point is our model, derived from current RNA activity, of the RNA world just prior to the advent of genetically-encoded protein synthesis. By focusing on the function of the protoribosome we develop a plausible model for the evolution of a protein-synthesizing ribosome from a high-fidelity RNA polymerase that incorporated triplets of oligonucleotides. With the standard assumption that during the evolution of enzymatic activity, catalysis is transferred from RNA M RNP M protein, the first proteins in the ``breakthrough organism'' (the first to have encoded protein synthesis) would be nonspecific chaperone-like proteins rather than catalytic. Moreover, because some RNA molecules that pre-date protein synthesis under this model now occur as introns in some of the very earliest proteins, the model predicts these particular introns are older than the exons surrounding them, the ``introns-first'' theory. Many features of the model for the genome organization in the final RNA world ribo-organism are more prevalent in the eukaryotic genome and we suggest that the prokaryotic genome organization (a single, circular genome with one center of replication) was derived from a ``eukaryotic-like'' genome organization (a fragmented linear genome with multiple centers of replication). The steps from the proposed ribo-organism RNA genome M eukaryotic-like DNA genome M prokaryotic-like DNA genome are all relatively straightforward, whereas the transition prokaryotic-like genome M eukaryotic-like genome appears impossible under a Darwinian mechanism of evolution, given the assumption of the transition RNA M RNP M protein. A likely molecular mechanism, ``plasmid transfer,'' is available for the origin of prokaryotic-type genomes from an eukaryotic-like architecture. Under this model prokaryotes are considered specialized and derived with reduced dependence on ssRNA biochemistry. A functional explanation is that prokaryote ancestors underwent selection for thermophily (high temperature) and/or for rapid reproduction (r selection) at least once in their history.
Also:
Really, the world of science is just dying for further helpful insights from your child on these active research topics. Please have her review these and get back to us with her dissertations on them. As your nine-year-old points out, evolution "obviously" couldn't have happened, so something *must* be wrong with all of these findings -- please have your nine-year-old identify the errors for us.The Evolution of Improved Fitness by random mutation plus selection
Ancient Jumping DNA May Have Evolved Into Key Component Of Human Immune System
Transposition mediated by RAG1 and RAG2 and its implications for the evolution of the immune system
New insights into V(D)J recombination and its role in the evolution of the immune system
Evolution and developmental regulation of the major histocompatibility complex
Evolution of the IL-6/class IB cytokine receptor family in the immune and nervous systems
Development of an immune system
The ancestor of the adaptive immune system was the CAM system for organogenesis
The evolutionary origins of immunoglobulins and T-cell receptors: possibilities and probabilities
Evolutionary perspectives on amyloid and inflammatory features of Alzheimer disease
Organization of the human RH50A gene (RHAG) and evolution of base composition of the RH gene family.
Molecular evolution of the vertebrate immune system.
Morphostasis: an evolving perspective.
Rapid evolution of immunoglobulin superfamily C2 domains expressed in immune system cells.
Evolutionary assembly of blood coagulation proteins
Exon and domain evolution in the proenzymes of blood coagulation and fibrinolysis
Evolution of proteolytic enzymes
Evolution of vertebrate fibrin formation and the process of its dissolution.
Common Parasite Overturns Traditional Beliefs About The Evolution And Role Of Hemoglobin
Scientists Discover How Bacteria Protect Themselves Against Immune System
Reduction of two functional gamma-globin genes to one: an evolutionary trend in New World monkeys
Evolutionary history of introns in a multidomain globin gene
Hemoglobin A2: origin, evolution, and aftermath
Early evolution of microtubules and undulipodia
Flagellar beat patterns and their possible evolution
The evolutionary origin and phylogeny of eukaryote flagella
Dynein family of motor proteins: present status and future questions
Origins of the nucleate organisms
The evolutionary origin and phylogeny of microtubules, mitotic spindles and eukaryote flagella
The evolution of cellular movement in eukaryotes: the role of microfilaments and microtubules
Kinesin Motor Phylogenetic Tree
Evolution of a dynamic cytoskeleton
Isolation, characterization and evolution of nine pufferfish (Fugu rubripes) actin genes
Evolution of chordate actin genes: evidence from genomic organization and amino acid sequences
Co-evolution of ligand-receptor pairs in the vasopressin/oxytocin superfamily of bioactive peptides
The evolution of the synapses in the vertebrate central nervous system
Evolutionary origins of multidrug and drug-specific efflux pumps in bacteria.
The evolution of metabolic cycles
Evolution of the first metabolic cycles
Speculations on the origin and evolution of metabolism
The Molecular Anatomy of an Ancient Adaptive Event
Biochemical pathways in prokaryotes can be traced backward through evolutionary time
Enzyme specialization during the evolution of amino acid biosynthetic pathways
Enzyme recruitment in evolution of new function
Bioenergetics: the evolution of molecular mechanisms and the development of bioenergetic concepts
Theoretical approaches to the evolutionary optimization of glycolysis--chemical analysis
The evolution of kinetoplastid glycosomes
Stepwise molecular evolution of bacterial photosynthetic energy conversion
Evolution of photosynthetic reaction centers and light harvesting chlorophyll proteins
Evolution of photosynthetic reaction centers
Early evolution of photosynthesis: clues from nitrogenase and chlorophyll iron proteins
Evolution of the control of pigment and plastid development in photosynthetic organisms
Chemical evolution of photosynthesis
Molecular evolution of ruminant lysozymes
Evolution of stomach lysozyme: the pig lysozyme gene
Molecular basis for tetrachromatic color vision
Molecular evolution of the Rh3 gene in Drosophila
The evolution of rhodopsins and neurotransmitter receptors
Optimization, constraint, and history in the evolution of eyes
A pessimistic estimate of the time required for an eye to evolve
The eye of the blind mole rat (Spalax ehrenbergi): regressive evolution at the molecular level
Programming the Drosophila embryo
Evolution of chordate hox gene clusters
Hox genes in brachiopods and priapulids and protostome evolution.
Radical evolutionary change possible in a few generations
Evolution Re-Sculpted Animal Limbs By Genetic Switches Once Thought Too Drastic For Survival
The origin and evolution of animal appendages
Hox genes in evolution: protein surfaces and paralog groups
Evolution of the insect body plan as revealed by the Sex combs reduced expression pattern
Sea urchin Hox genes: insights into the ancestral Hox cluster
Theoretical approaches to the analysis of homeobox gene evolution
Teleost HoxD and HoxA genes: comparison with tetrapods and functional evolution of the HOXD complex
Evolutionary origin of insect wings from ancestral gills
Tracing backbone evolution through a tunicate's lost tail
The ParaHox gene cluster is an evolutionary sister of the Hox gene cluster.
Gene duplications in evolution of archaeal family B DNA polymerases
Adaptive amino acid replacements accompanied by domain fusion in reverse transcriptase
Molecular evolution of genes encoding ribonucleases in ruminant species
Studies on the sites expressing evolutionary changes in the structure of eukaryotic 5S ribosomal RNA
Evolution of a Transfer RNA Gene Through a Point Mutation in the Anticodon
Universally conserved translation initiation factors
Genetic code in evolution: switching species-specific aminoacylation with a peptide transplant
Evolution of transcriptional regulatory elements within the promoter of a mammalian gene.
Codon reassignment and amino acid composition in hemichordate mitochondria.
Determining divergence times of the major kingdoms of living organisms with a protein clock
The multiplicity of domains in proteins
Characterization, primary structure, and evolution of lamprey plasma albumin
The origins and evolution of eukaryotic proteins
Evolution of vertebrate fibrin formation and the process of its dissolution.
Vastly Different Virus Families May Be Related
Selective sweep of a newly evolved sperm-specific gene in Drosophila
Activated acetic acid by carbon fixation on (Fe,Ni)S under primordial conditions
Molecular evolution of the histidine biosynthetic pathway
Accelerated evolution in inhibitor domains of porcine elafin family members
Convergent evolution of antifreeze glycoproteins in Antarctic notothenioid fish and Arctic cod
Evolution of antifreeze glycoprotein gene from a trypsinogen gene in Antarctic notothenioid fish
Evolution of an antifreeze glycoprotein
A model for the evolution of the plastid sec apparatus inferred from secY gene phylogeny
The evolutionary history of the amylase multigene family in Drosophila pseudoobscura
The evolution of an allosteric site in phosphorylase
Molecular evolution of fish neurohypophysial hormones: neutral and selective evolutionary mechanisms
Pseudogenes in ribonuclease evolution: a source of new biomacromolecular function?
Evolutionary relationships of the carbamoylphosphate synthetase genes
The molecular evolution of the small heat-shock proteins in plants
Evolutionary history of the 11p15 human mucin gene family.
Molecular evolution of the aldo-keto reductase gene superfamily.
A Classification of Possible Routes of Darwinian Evolution
Generation of evolutionary novelty by functional shift
Mobile DNA Sequences Could Be The Cause Of Chromosomal Mutations During The Evolution Of Species
Minor Shuffle Makes Protein Fold
Genetic Stowaways May Contribute To Evolutionary Change
Evolutionary Molecular Mechanism In Mammals Found
Cases of ancient mobile element DNA insertions that now affect gene regulation
Punctuated evolution caused by selection of rare beneficial mutations
The origin of programmed cell death
The origin and early development of biological catalysts
DNA secondary structures and the evolution of hypervariable tandem arrays
Episodic adaptive evolution of primate lysozymes
Genome plasticity as a paradigm of eubacteria evolution
Evolutionary motif and its biological and structural significance
Exon shuffling and other ways of module exchange
New Drosophila introns originate by duplication.
Evolution and the structural domains of proteins
The role of constrained self-organization in genome structural evolution
The coevolution of gene family trees
The evolution of metabolic cycles
The emergence of major cellular processes in evolution
A hardware interpretation of the evolution of the genetic code
Speculations on the origin and evolution of metabolism
Probabilistic reconstruction of ancestral protein sequences
The contribution of slippage-like processes to genome evolution
Molecular evolution in bacteria
The structural basis of molecular adaptation.
Mitochondrial DNA: molecular fossils in the nucleus
Cases of ancient mobile element DNA insertions that now affect gene regulation
Tiggers and DNA transposon fossils in the human genome
The eye of the blind mole rat (Spalax ehrenbergi): regressive evolution at the molecular level
Tiggers and DNA transposon fossils in the human genome
Gene competition and the possible evolutionary role of tumours
New Scientist Planet Science: Replaying life
Molecular evolution of an arsenate detoxification pathway by DNA shuffling
UB Researcher Developing Method That Employs Evolution To Develop New Drug Leads
Exploring the functional robustness of an enzyme by in vitro evolution
Evolutionary algorithms in computer-aided molecular design
Evolution of Enzymes for the Metabolism of New Chemical Inputs into the Environment
Evolution of Amino Acid Metabolism Inferred through Cladistic Analysis
Integrating the Universal Metabolism into a Phylogenetic Analysis
Serial segmental duplications during primate evolution result in complex human genome architecture
Phylogeny determined by protein domain content
Diversity, taxonomy and evolution of medium-chain dehydrogenase/reductase superfamily
Molecular archaeology of the Escherichia coli genome
Comparative Genomics of the Eukaryotes
Asymmetric Sequence Divergence of Duplicate Genes
The Genetic Core of the Universal Ancestor
Evolutionary History of Chromosome 20
Reconstructing large regions of an ancestral mammalian genome in silico
Occurrence and Consequences of Coding Sequence Insertions and Deletions in Mammalian Genomes
The Origin of Human Chromosome 1 and Its Homologs in Placental Mammals
On the RNA World: Evidence in Favor of an Early Ribonucleopeptide World
Inhibition of Ribozymes by Deoxyribonucleotides and the Origin of DNA
Genetic Code Origin: Are the Pathways of Type Glu-tRNAGln to Gln-tRNAGln Molecular Fossils or Not?
Researchers Engineer A Way To Improve T-Cell Receptors
Digital Organisms Give Life To Questions Of Evolution
Lies, Damned lies, Statistics, and Probability of Abiogenesis Calculations
Purdue Study Breathes New Life Into Question Of How Life Began
Ammonia From The Earth's Deep Oceans A Key Step In The Search For Life's Origins
A supersymmetric model for the evolution of the genetic code.
The hydrogen hypothesis for the first eukaryote.
And that goes for the rest of the anti-evolution know-it-alls on this thread as well. Come on, folks, show us what ya got. Since you're such self-proclaimed experts on evolutionary biology, this should be a piece of cake for y'all. Now's your chance, go for it. If evolution is the nonsense you claim it is, feel free to point out what's wrong with each of these papers, and what theory you've got that better explains the results and observations (*ALL* of them, not just one or two isolated observations).
Once you've finished with those, I'll post a few thousand more for you, but hey, that should be no problem for you "experts", you've got it all figured out already, right?
[185JHP wrote:] The hoax is circling the drain. Nothing scientific rests on the hoax, which is a good thing b/c it's laughable nonsense, built on jibberjabber jargn: Blahblahblah "DNA" blahblahblah...
I'm truly impressed with the level of knowledge, rational argument, and unassailable evidence shown by the anti-evolutionists. How could I ever have doubted that you folks truly grasp a century-and-a-half of scientific knowledge well enough to be in a position to critique an entire field of science and declare it completely void of validity in its entirety? Clearly, you've been right all along, and those millions of biologists who have spent their entire careers studying this topic are foolishly mistaken in every respect. I'm really impressed with the way you folks have made your case.
Oh, wait, no I'm not.
...do you ever even *listen* to yourselves? Your towering arrogance on this subject is only equalled by your vast ignorance of it.
Attacking a field of knowledge that you barely know -- and much of what you "know" is wrong thanks to creationist misinformation -- is a waste of *everyone's* time, including your own. Stop mouthing off without knowing what in the hell you're talking about. A lot of us have better things to do than correct all the misinformation y'all spew here on a regular basis. And acting like frothing scientific illiterates (okay, maybe it's *not* an act) really does *not* help the conservative cause -- it turns off large numbers of potential Republican voters in the same way (and for the same reasons) as the wackjob/enviro/feminist/"new-age"/crystal-healing/holistic/etc. "don't-confuse-me-with-science" folks turn off potential Democrat voters.
So if you really do care about conservatism -- go find a new hobby...
Until momincombatboots's little girl knows the difference between an endogenous retrovirus and a retroposon -- and can cogently discuss the pros and cons of maximum parsimony bootstrap consensus tree analysis of each -- (among a ton of other skills and types of evidence) she is *really* unlikely to be able to add any novel insights to the current body of scientific knowledge on this subject. And yes, that goes for you other anti-evolutionists in the peanut gallery as well. You really, really don't understand this topic even a fraction as well as you believe you do.
But maybe you can help me with a question I've been unable to answer: Why is it that folks who wouldn't dream of thinking that they knew enough to attempt to identify any flaws in (for example) quantum physics, have no problem at all feeling "qualified" to "disprove" or outright dismiss just about *everything* in evolutionary biology?
How do you test the "Primal Truth" of Scripture to know that it is "Primal Truth?" Do you match it up against the real world?
All that anti-evolution stuff does get to you after awhile.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.