The process is the process. Nothing in evolutionary theory speaks about who or what created the process, or if it needed to be created at all. The first life came from somewhere -- it could have formed through naturalistic mechanisms, it could have been zapped into existence ex-nihilo by a deity -- evolution doesn't try to tell us what happened.
“The process is the process. Nothing in evolutionary theory speaks about who or what created the process”
It doesn’t need to be stated in evolutionary theory. Since evolutionary theory is by definition a theory of naturalistic science, it implicitly does not allow the possibility of any supernatural involvement.
“The first life came from somewhere — it could have formed through naturalistic mechanisms, it could have been zapped into existence ex-nihilo by a deity “
Should these possibilities be put forward as hypotheses in the classroom?
Illogical...
Evolution requires change over a period of time. Time then, by deductive reasoning, must also have a beginning.
Evolution is entirely dependent on a succession of events over time.