Posted article: "..The truth is, science cannot yet tell us anything conclusive about the origin of our species. The fossil record is scant, and what we don’t know about our own ancestry greatly outweighs what we do know.."
Icthus: Never thought I'd hear an evolutionist admit that.
This is what scientific approach is about: if you don't know, you say I don't know, not enough evidence, etc. Theories come and go, some remain as the best explanation of observable facts. The difference between scientific approach and faith-based one is that when faced with contradictory facts, science eventually will develop a better theory explaining new facts as well. Contrary to this, if you just believe in your theory, what do you do when you are faced with the new facts you can't explain?
There is no shame for a scientist to admit that his knowledge is not complete, or that the existing theory can't explain all facts. It is a shame for a scientist to ignore new facts and rigidly hold for the old wrong theory. Of course, history of science is full of examples when indeed even big name scientists could not bring themselves to admit that they were wrong. But this is just a human failure, not the wrongs of the scientific method of inquiry.
But just because our knowledge is limited, it does not mean that science as principal needs to be abandoned in favor of faith-believes every time when our old theories are challenged.
"..There is no shame for a scientist to admit that his knowledge is not complete, or that the existing theory can't explain all facts.."I absolutely agree. But it is usually the exception rather than the rule. Creationists have been tagged as superstitious idiots, ignorant of scientific facts. My beef with the Evo's revolves more around their absolute "refusal" to admit that #1, they don't have any concrete proof of macro evolution, and #2 that the creation theory could be just as much of a possibility.
From an archeaological standpoint, the Bible has been shown to be accurate time and again, rarely is it questioned from a historical context. Yet science, by its very nature, cannot accept something as fact unless it can be proven true (which is where the beef with the Evo's comes in)
Science attempts to answer a question using all available data and probabilities. Faith doesn't necessarily require that I know the answer....just that I believe it is correct.
