Is evolution a theory and not fact?

Answer 1

Evolution is a theory. But in its current form of modern evolutionary synthesis (or just evolutionary synthesis), it is fact. We know that the earth has been here a long time, and we know also that life has been here for billions of years. Over that time, life changed as the planet changed, or that life died. Evolution is how life came to take the forms it does today. Note that the facts and scientific evidence came before the theory. The theory explains what we can see and what we have inferred. And it does a superb job. The overwhelming majority of scientists agree to what is offered in evolutionary synthesis. There is far too much scientific evidence to deny the logic in this proposal.

As regards the idea of a "young earth" as proposed, an even larger majority reject the idea flatly. The National Academy of Sciences, a powerhouse U.S. national scientific organization, joins some 67 national and international science academies in rejecting the notion of a young earth as nonsense. The "science" that supports the idea of a young earth is argued by investigators who claim they cannot get published in the likes of, say, Nature, due to being discriminated against or censored. The truth is that there is no scientific merit to their work, and that is why they don't get any space on a page. And rightly so.

Objections posted to radiometric dating by young earth Christian (YEC) groups are ill-considered. The most preposterous claims are made. The fact is that several different radiometric dating methods are in agreement, and not one single proposal offered by YEC proponents, no matter how outrageous, can affect all the radiometric dating methods across the board. No one with any true understanding of the methodology of these processes can find something that faults every dating method. The flaws or misinterpretations of Genesis accounts of creation are shredded by scientific findings, and those desperate to defend Biblical accounts must be turning a blind eye to the obvious inconsistencies.

Certainly the correctness of a scientific theory is not determined by vote. Think back to the time when most scientists actually believed the Biblical account that set the age of the earth at a few thousands of years. But we learn, and we modify our thinking according to new evidence. The objections raised to what is currently offered by science are elevated by only a relatively tiny handful of investigators. And the more data that pours in, the less tenable the ideas of the objectors become.

Answer 2

AnswerA theorem in my opinion. Yet I struggle with the idea that it worked so fast given the timescale. AnswerThe theory of evolution is a scientific theory. This theory, now compiled into modern evolutionary synthesis (or just evolutionary synthesis), is the very best explanation for all the things we have discovered about life on earth. It arose from the facts, and not after the fact. And there is nothing better that explains how life came to be the way it is. Life arose here billions of years ago (though we don't know how), and, as the planet changed, so did the life on it. Or it died. A link can be found below.

Evolution is a fact. The theory of natural selection explains that fact. That is what scientific theories do; they are supported by massive amounts of evidence in the service of explaining fact and phenomenon in the real world.
Evolution, the change in allele frequency in a population of organisms over time, is a fact. The theory of evolution by natural selection is the theory and goes far toward explaining the fact of evolution. Theories contain and explain facts.