Changes

Advocates for the [[teaching of evolution]] as a finding of mainstream science tend to use two different meanings of "evolution".

Advocates for the [[teaching of evolution]] as a finding of mainstream science tend to use two different meanings of "evolution".

*We have fossil evidence for evolution. It's a fact."<ref>http://archives.cnn.com/2000/US/03/08/creationism.vs.evolution/</ref>

*We have fossil evidence for evolution. It's a fact. (teacher in CNN article)

This apparently refers to the fossil evidence for evolution (see [[radiometric dating|carbon dating]]). But creationists also reject the idea that new species can evolve from older ones, such as humans evolving from ancient hominids. About half of the people who reject the materialist [[Theory of Evolution]] accept the fossil evidence of "gradual appearance" while rejecting mainstream biology's explanation that a combination of [[natural selection]] and stochastically random forces like [[mutation]] and [[copying errors]] is the cause.{{fact}}

This apparently refers to the assertion that the appearance of new forms of life is supported by fossils (see [[radiometric dating|carbon dating]]). But the context of the quote implies that the teacher was actually talking about the notion that "new species can evolve from older ones -- such as humans evolving from ancient apes." [http://archives.cnn.com/2000/US/03/08/creationism.vs.evolution/]

 

About half of the people who reject the materialist [[Theory of Evolution]] accept the fossil evidence of "gradual appearance" while rejecting mainstream biology's explanation that a combination of [[natural selection]] and unguided forces like [[mutation]] and [[copying errors]] is the cause.

Facts are observations, theories are models which explain those observations.  Theories can never be facts, because that implies that the model itself is an observation.  However, theories may often become so well-accepted and well-proven that they rise to a level at which scientists are comfortable calling them "facts" - an example is the [[theory of relativity]], or the theory of [[double slit experiment|particle/wave duality]].

Facts are observations, theories are models which explain those observations.  Theories can never be facts, because that implies that the model itself is an observation.  However, theories may often become so well-accepted and well-proven that they rise to a level at which scientists are comfortable calling them "facts" - an example is the [[theory of relativity]], or the theory of [[double slit experiment|particle/wave duality]].