What is the Evidence for Evolution?

Some are asking if whale hips still have any sort of function. Yes they partially do. In normal land mammals, hip bones serve 3 main functions:
1) attaching the legs,
2) supporting internal organs
3) anchoring muscles of the sex organs.

Whales have lost the first two functions but maintain the third.

@mysterioussoup3393 SCIENCE ISN'T ABOUT BELIEFS, IT'S ABOUT TESTABLE AND FALSIFIABLE HYPOTHESES AND SCIENTIFIC THEORIES; all of which must be backed by evidence. Science proceeds from evidence to a conclusion that is initially PROVISIONAL (a hypothesis). There are degrees of certainty in science and as further evidence accumulates in support of a hypothesis, so does the certainty it is correct. When all evidence supports a hypothesis and none refutes it, it may be regarded as a SCIENTIFIC THEORY which, in science, is the HIGHEST DEGREE OF CERTAINTY POSSIBLE. That is true for Germ Theory, Atomic Theory, Theory of Gravity, Theory of Evolution, Heliocentric Theory, Theories of Relativity, et al. They are all explanations for observed phenomena and they are all backed by massive evidence.

Science is built on facts, much like a house being built of bricks. But a pile of bricks is not a house and a collection of facts is not science. They become science only after being assembled into a coherent explanation of observed phenomena that is a Scientific Theory. Scientific methodology is designed to eliminate personal bias and follow evidence wherever it leads. THAT is the path to truth, and that is science.

The Genesis creation story, which is what many are fed as a child, comes from the Jewish (Hebrew) Tanakh that was written by Hebrew priests and scribes during the Babylonian Exile (roughly 597 to 538 BCE - about 60 years) a factual event. It marked the time when Jerusalem and the Kingdom of Judah fell to Nebuchadnezzar II and the Babylonian Empire. A series of deportations followed where much of the population of the Judean people, including the king, the royal family, priests and craftsmen were forcibly relocated to Babylon on the banks of the Euphrates River.

The Tanakh - the Hebrew Bible, was written during and shortly after the Babylonian Exile. About 700 years later, the Tanakh (c. 400 CE)was adopted by Christianity as the Old Testament. About 700 CE, Mohammad, in writing the Qur'an, adopted the Jewish 'Patriarchs' from Abraham (Ibrahim) to Moses (Musa) as the prophets of Islam. Moses (Musa) is mentioned hundreds of times in the Qur'an.

Regardless, there is no evidence that ANY of the Patriarchs/Prophets actually existed. Likewise, the story of Israelite slavery in Egypt, their escape under the leadership of a man named Moses, their 40 year sojourn in the Sinai desert and ultimate conquest of Canaanite cities under the leadership of a man named Joshua, cannot be supported by any evidence at all, despite it being the foundation myth for the ancient Kingdoms of Judah and Israel, as well as its modern namesake. TRUTH is determined by EVIDENCE, not by what anyone says and NOT by words in an old book.
The "Exodus" story in the first 5 books of the bible, the 'Pentateuch' and continued in the Book of Joshua relating the destruction of Canaanite cities was accepted as history for more than 2000 years. However, when in 1821 a young Frenchman, Jean Francois Champollion, the 'father' of Egyptology, succeeded in deciphering ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs on the Rosetta Stone, it founded the science of Egyptology and set off a wave of expeditions seeking confirmation of the Exodus story. Search as they might, there was none. Three hundred years later, there it still none. That has not deterred creationist fakery.

This is fake. I don't believe in evolution.

Does every scientific organization in the world endorse evolution as a fact? YES.
Do all science organizations in the world regard evolution as a branch of science? YES.
DO Biology departments of every secular university in the world back evolution? YES.
Does the Biology department of conservative Baptist Baylor University teach evolution? YES it does.
DO the Geology departments of every secular university in the world endorse evolution? YES.
Does the Geology department of Baptist Baylor University endorse evolution? YES it does.
Does the Episcopalian church endorse evolution? YES it does.
Does the Catholic Church endorse evolution? YES it does.
Does the United Methodist Church? YES it does.
Does the Presbyterian Church? YES it does.

Do creationists accept the evidence for evolution? NO, because their belief system requires them to reject any evidence that does not support their biblical interpretation. They grew up with that belief. It was not reasoned into them, and most likely cannot be reasoned out of them. One cannot reason with those who reject its use. That would be like giving medicine to a dead man.

The difference between faith and insanity is that insanity is the ability to hold firmly to a conclusion that is incompatible with the evidence, whereas faith is the ability to hold firmly to a conclusion that is incompatible with the evidence.

FACT: No one is born with a language or religion. A developing child is capable of learning any language, just as it is capable of learning any religion. The ability of a child to learn another language diminishes with age, as also happens with patterns of thought. As Albert Einstein noted "What passes for common sense is the collection of prejudices we acquire by age 18". He also said; "Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions."

In essence a child is imprinted by the family and society into which it is born. It takes concentrated effort to alter those learned behaviors and few are capable of doing so. Being confronted by new information that conflicts with those learned behaviors will likely result in the discomfort known as 'cognitive dissonance'. Ideas and attitudes absorbed by a child's mind were not reasoned there, and in most cases, cannot be reasoned out of them.

There is no evidence for ANY creation event. NONE, ZIP. NADA. It does not exist because there was no 'creator'. What anyone chooses to believe exists in their mind and cannot be distinguished from delusion. There are more than 3000 creation stories; they all originated in the imaginations of primitive peoples. They exist today as culturally sanctioned superstitions.

HOW TO IDENTIFY A FAKE RELIGION Since no one is born with a religion and seem to somehow acquire one by osmosis or some other process, it is rather strange that each proponent of the various religions is convinced that their religion was of their own free choice and is the best of all possible religions. They are firmly convinced that the proponents of other religions are, at the very least, mistaken and quite possibly evil. Since they cannot all be right, The problem becomes how to tell the real religion from the fake.
HOW TO IDENTIFY A FAKE RELIGION:
1. The deity never appears in person to any credible person or group of people, and his very existence is unverifiable.
2. No miracles or supernatural events are ever documented by any credible source.
3. Praying to the deity has no measurable, real-world effect.
4. Belief promises a reward and non-belief promises a penalty, but these consequences are unverifiable.
5. Holy text makes unsubstantiated claims and describes events of questionable historicity.
6. There is no clear evidence that the text has divine origins.
7. Regular groupthink meetings are held to reinforce belief. A person of authority is present to 'interpret' the holy text, and money is collected.
Followers have justifications for all of these failings and believe wholeheartedly.
How is your religion different from a fake religion?

Some are asking if creationists have any sort of function. Yes, they partially do. Their sole reason for existing is to lie and troll all the normal people.

FUN FACT: All chordates possess a tail and pharyngeal slits at some point in their lives, and humans are no exception. Early on in human development, the embryo has both a tail and pharyngeal slits, both of which are lost during the course of development. Pharyngeal slits are openings in the pharynx of a vertebrate embryo that develop into gill arches in the bony fishes and into the jaws and inner ear in the terrestrial vertebrates. Pharyngeal slits and tails are found in the embryos of all vertebrates because they share as common ancestors the fish in which these structures first evolved.

Every human embryo starts to develop a tail for a brief period during our embryonic development. At between 4 and 5 weeks of age, the normal human embryo has 10–12 developing tail vertebrae. It is most pronounced at around day 31 to 35 of gestation and then regresses into the four or five fused vertebrae becoming our coccyx.
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EVIDENCE FOR EVOLUTION - Evolution Makes Testable Predictions. The defining characteristic of all scientific knowledge, including theories, is the ability to make falsifiable or testable predictions. In the 1950's when it was discovered that humans had 23 pairs of chromosomes (one from each parent), whereas the other great apes, chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans had 24 pairs, creationists were ecstatic, thinking they finally had evidence to counter common ancestry.
...
[Chromosomes are packages of DNA that form during mitosis and meiosis.There are two sets, one inherited from each parent. Other Great Apes have 48 chromosomes (24 pairs) (1n=24, 2n=48) whereas humans have 46 chromosomes (23 pairs) (1n=23, 2n=46)]

Evolution made a testable prediction; That somewhere in the human genome we should find evidence of cromosomal fusion. In other words, we should be able to find a human chromosome with the remnants of extra telomeres and centomeres.

Since the loss of all the genes in a chromosome would have been fatal to any species, scientists reasoned that IF the Theory of Evolution was correct about common ancestry, one of two things must have occurred. Either two chromosomes had fused in human's evolutionary past, OR chromosomes had split in the other apes. Using 'Occam's Razor' or the "law of parsimony" which states that among competing hypotheses, the one with the fewest assumptions should be selected (Simply put, it means that the simplest explanation is most likely the correct one), the most likely event was chromosome fusion in humans.

Normal chromosomes have a centromere and ends capped with telomeres. It was reasoned that IF two chromosomes had fused, evidence for such an event would be found in a chromosome with two centromeres and teleomeres where they did not belong. That is exactly what was found in human chromosome 2 (chromosomes are numbered by length).

Subsequent to the decoding of the chimp genome in 2005, it was discovered that chimpanzee chromosomes 12 and 13 (for comparative purposes designated as 2A and 2B or 2p and 2q) contained the same genes as human chromosome 2 and if placed end to end the positions of those genes matched those of the human chromosome. Those chromosomes in the other apes also lined up in a similar fashion. The fusion event has been confirmed as predicted.
(Links to Illustrations have been deleted.)

This illustration shows the amazing convergence of human (Homo sapiens - Hs) and chimp (Pan troglodites - Pt) chromosomal alignment. Chromosomes are traditionally numbered by length with number one being the longest. Note here that Chromosome 1 of both species contain essentially the same genes despite some being offset or sequence inverted. Chromosomal rearrangements are evident in other apes as well. Of most significance here is that Human Chromosome 2 (Hs2) lines up almost exactly with chimp chromosomes 12 and 13 (Pt12, Pt13). DNA sequences called telomeres are normally found at either end of chromosomes, yet on Hs2 they are found flanking the centromere. Additionally there is a second, albeit disabled centromere (a pseudo centromere). All of which is evidence for ancestral chromosomal fusion.

Another illustration compares the banding patterns for the other apes:
(Links to Illustrations have been deleted.)

Chromosomal rearrangements (translocations) occur in nature and are not always detrimental, but they can be. This chromosomal fusion occurred by means of a Robertsonian Translocation which is the most common form in humans (about 1 in 900 births). A balanced Robertsonian translocation takes the place of two acrocentric chromosomes and results in no problems for the person carrying it. There is a case of a healthy 44 chromosome man in China and a family in Finland with chromosomal fusions. Although normal in other respects, they may have fertility problems. Chromosome rearrangements may perhaps reduce fertility but do not constitute an immediate barrier to interbreeding. Unbalanced translocations do result in developmental problems.
Search for:
Understanding Chromosomal Translocation - Robertsonian Translocation v1.2
Robertsonian Translocation Explained in Plain Language

In just the last few years science has gained largely complete genomes of two other human species, those of Neanderthal and Denisovans. We see that same chromosome fusion in their genomes as well, indication that the fusion event took place in a common ancestor.

Underlining the fact that chromosome fusion need not result in loss of genetic information, two teams of scientists have recently managed to reduce the normal 16 chromosomes of single celled Brewer's yeast to one or two chromosomes with no loss of function.
Search for: 'Entire yeast genome squeezed into one lone chromosome' nature

As previously stated, the defining characteristic of all scientific knowledge, including theories, is the ability to make falsifiable or testable predictions. The greatest test of ANY scientific theory is in its usefulness as a predictive tool. In this case, as with others, the Theory of Evolution has performed beautifully. Instead of it being the evidence against common ancestry creationists had hoped for, it has established very firm evidence in support of that ancestry.

References:
(references removed to accommodate YT)

WE SHARE GENETIC INFORMATION (DNA) WITH ALL LIVING ORGANISMS. The more we share, the closer the relationship.
That is evidence for a universal common ancestor. Every human on earth is 99.9% genetically identical to every other human. All differences in skin, hair or eye color, facial features, height, etc. are found in that 0.1%.

We, Homo sapiens, are most closely related to chimpanzees and bonobos, sharing 98.6% of our DNA. Those 3 species share a common ancestor that lived 6 or 7 mya. They are closer related to each other than any of the 3 are related to gorillas.

Each of those 3 share 97.7% of their DNA with gorillas and a common ancestor that lived about 10 mya.

Those 4 species are closer related to each other than any of the 4 are related to orangutans with which they each share 96.4% of their DNA.

Together with chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orangutans, we comprise the family Hominidae, the Great Apes. They are not our ancestors, but they are FAMILY.

Further back on the evolutionary tree are monkeys. We share 93% of our DNA with Macaques (genus Macaca). That, and their small size, make them ideal lab animals for studying human diseases, many of which we share with other primates. Another branch of monkeys, the baboons (genus Papio), share 91 percent of our DNA. Monkeys diverged from our Hominid ancestors about 25 mya.

Mice share nearly 90 percent of human DNA. It is for this reason that mice have been used in laboratories as experimental animals for research into human disease processes for years. Mice are currently used in genetic research to test gene replacement, and gene therapy because their genes are similar to those of humans and have similar reactions to diseases and disease processes.

Humans and zebrafish (Danio rerio) are vertebrates with similar genetic structure. They share 70 percent of the same genes and 84 percent of human genes known to be associated with human disease have a counterpart in zebrafish. Zebrafish are used as model organisms for the study of human disease because they have a genetic structure similar to that of humans. They require little care and reproduce rapidly.

We see about 50% genetic similarity with plants for the simple reason that both plants and animals are Eukaryotes with a common ancestor. All eukaryotes are composed of cells that have the same housekeeping requirements and use much the same genes to do so.

Btw, every one of those organisms rely on the DNA molecule to transmit hereditary information. That alone is evidence for a universal common ancestor as chemists have identified over 1 million molecules that could perform the same function.
The fact that the DNA molecule is both heritable and mutable makes evolution inevitable.

EVIDENCE OF EVOLUTION Over the millions of years of whale evolution, we see a succession of fossils through time with shared characteristics that start with land animals that swam using webbed feet on hind legs for propulsion. In land mammals, what we see is a pelvis consisting of 3 fused bones, ilium, ishium and pubis to which various muscles are attached. There are 5 fused vertebrae, the sacral vertebrae to which the pelvis is also fused, giving firm support to hind limbs.

Successive early cetacean fossils show increased use of the tail for propulsion, placing a premium on spinal flexibility. Freeing the pelvis from the spine provided that flexibility, and took place in two steps; first, as in Rhodocetus, those five vertebrae of the sacrum separated into individual vertebrae, reducing of the point of pelvic fusion to a single sacral vertebrae. While spinal flexibility was improved, it reduced support for hind limbs while on land. While they were ungainly on land, much like today's sea lions, it seems that, like sea lions, they came ashore to breed and give birth.

The second step in basilosauroides (Basilosuarus and Dorodon) was complete separation of pelvis from the spinal column. While spinal flexibility was further improved, it gave no support for hind limbs on land at which point they would have been fully aquatic

Basilosaurus and Dorodon hind limbs had fully articulated pelvis, femur, tibia, fibula, metacarpals and phalanges, all the normal parts of a quadrupedal leg. That pelvis however, was no longer fused to the vertebrae. An 18 inch hind limb was of little use for propelling a 50 foot Basilosaurus and the same applied to the smaller Dorodon. Since their value for propulsion was negligible and had the effect of increasing drag, evolutionary pressure favored further reduction in size and eventual elimination which took place in more recent cetaceans.

Not only was the pelvis retained in later species along with their role of muscular support, but many of today's whales retain a femur articulated with ball and socket joint to the remnant pelvis. The Northern Right Whale retains not only those bones, but an articulated tibia as well.

The genes for those hind limbs are still present in the cetacean genome. Hind limb buds appear in early embryos to be turned off by control sequences in later development. The control sequence on rare occasions have malfunctioned, resulting in a whale or dolphin with hind limbs. The progressive reduction and eventual elimination of hind limbs occurred in the separate parallel evolution of Sireneans (manatees, dugongs and sea cows) from their Proboscidian ancestors, also well documented in the fossil record.?

EVIDENCE FOR EVOLUTION - Vestigial Human Traits Vestigial refers to an organ or part which is greatly reduced from the original ancestral form and is no longer functional or is of reduced or altered function. They are not necessarily useless as some people assume.

Just as humans inherit characteristics of their nearest relatives, each of us has characteristics inherited from more distant relatives. In the inner corners of your eyes you have what is called a semilunar fold or plica semilunaris. There is a muscle attached to it, but it doesn't do anything in humans. In many other animals (sharks, frogs birds, your cat), however, that muscle controls a transparent nictitating membrane or "third eyelid" that can be drawn over the eye. Proponents of 'intelligent design' have no explanation as to why humans have those muscles. They are perfectly consistent with evolutionary theory as vestigial remnants of an ancestral characteristic.

You also have three sets of muscles attached to your ears. In other animals, those muscles turn the ears to focus on the direction of a sound. This ability is found in monkeys, most of which cannot turn their head horizontally. Humans and the other apes can turn their heads vertically and the ability to move the ears is largely lost in those species. Using sensitive electronic devices, researches find that the human brain is still sending nerve impulses to those muscles in response to sounds, but the most any human can do is a bit of a wiggle. Proponents of 'intelligent design' have no explanation as to why humans have those muscles. They are perfectly consistent with evolutionary theory as vestigial remnants of an ancestral characteristic.

Then there is the Plantaris Muscle, which in other primates facilitates arboreal lifestyle, allowing the feet to function much the same as hands in gripping branches. The human foot has lost this ability, rather early on it seems, in the process of becoming bipedal. The muscle, however, is still there. It is a long pencil thin muscle and tendons running down the back of the calf, that are extremely painful when ruptured and often misdiagnosed as a more serious injury. This injury, often called "Tennis Leg" occurs most frequently in athletes over 40 due to the tendon and attachments becoming more brittle. With or without treatment, the two ends of the rupture will shrivel and disappear within weeks with no loss
of function in the leg. It is indeed one of evolution's leftovers. It is often harvested for reconstructive surgery elsewhere in the body.

That these muscles are still present in the human body indicates that the genetic instructions for them are still present in the human genome and active to some extent. At some point the genes for these traits may be silenced by a mutation that disables a gene (such as a premature STOP codon or frame shift) making them a pseudo gene; one which no longer produces a protein. There is evidence that is already happening as this muscle is absent in one leg or both in about 10% of the population. The same seems to be happening with wisdom teeth.

In the wild, primate infants are capable of grasping and holding on to the mother's fur shortly after birth. That is the Palmar grasp reflex and is a primitive reflex found in infants of humans and most primates.

In other primates, this allows the mother to pursue other activities. Human infants, because of the limited birth canal and large human brain must enter this world at a much earlier stage of physical and neuronal development. Despite that, the developing human embryo exhibits this grasping reflex in the uterus as early as 16 weeks. Even at birth, that reflex, the Palmar Grip Reflex, is incredibly strong as most parents of newborns will attest. While it is capable of supporting the child's weight, one must exercise caution as the child may suddenly let go. This reflex may persist up to 6 months after birth. As this is of no benefit to a human child, it is vestigial.

All Great Apes, including humans have an appendix. In other apes, the appendix is quite large and a repository for bacteria which help to digest the leaves that make up a large part of their diet. In humans it is called the vermiform (worm shaped) appendix and is minuscule. While some hypothesize that our appendix is a repository for good bacteria to replenish out gut biota following diarrhea, the fact is that a 'hot' appendix can kill you, whereas those who have had it removed go on to lead normal lives.

The vomeronasal organ (VNO), is an organ located at the base of the dividing wall between right and left nostrils (nasal septum). It is present in most amphibia, reptiles and mammals but absent in birds and adult Old World (catarrhine) monkeys which include apes and humans. It enables the detection of pheromones via pheromone receptor (VR) genes that produce proteins sensitive to certain biochemical signals.
The VNO is clearly present in the human fetus but appears to be atrophied or absent in adults and is thus vestigial. The VR genes, plentiful in other species, while present in the human genome are all or almost all disabled by mutations making them pseudo-genes, again vestigial remnants.

Evolution makes incremental alterations to what is already there. It may help to think of evolution as a robot gardener, dragging a garden hose around various obstacles until it can go no further. Now, an intelligent gardener would need only to retrace its steps, unwinding the hose before plotting a new path to where it needs to go. The robotic gardener cannot do that. With a limited tool kit, all it can do is add more hose.

An example of that is the recurrent laryngeal nerve, a branch of the vagus nerve (tenth cranial nerve) that supplies motor function and sensation to the larynx (voice box) present in most vertebrates. In the fish-like ancestors of modern tetrapods the nerve's route would have been direct from the brain, past the heart, to the gills (as it does in modern fish). Over the course of evolution land vertebrates developed longer necks, making heart and brain ever further apart. As a result the RLN became incrementally longer, but still needed to loop around the aorta, thus the laryngeal nerve was caught on the wrong side of the heart. It branches from the vagus nerve in the chest cavity before it loops around the aorta and then back up to the larynx. Natural selection gradually lengthened the nerve by tiny increments to accommodate, resulting in the circuitous route now observed. While neurons are the longest cells in an animal body, those in the giraffe RLN can be as long as 5 meters. Were there such a thing as an "intelligent designer", it would have been possible at any point to simply reroute that nerve by a couple centimeters. That did not happen. In humans, that means a detour of about 18 inches:

Pseudo-genes are vestiges of previously active genes that have been disabled by some mutation and no longer produce a protein. There are some 17,000 of them n the human genome, as opposed to about 24,000 active genes. One gene common to most mammals is GULO which enables them to manufacture their own Vitamin C, an essential vitamin. Due to a mutation that occurred in a primate ancestor about 50 million years ago, it is now GULOP, a pseudo gene. as a result, one entire branch of primates, the sub order Haplorhini (Tarsiers and Simians) are unable to produce their own vitamin C, while the other primate sub order Strepsirrhini (Lemurs and Lorises) have the normal copy of the gene as do most other mammals. That defective gene was passed from a parent to offspring generation after generation through the diversification to today's approximately 300 species of New World and Old World monkeys and apes including humans. Since most other affected primates obtained more than sufficient vitamin C from their diets of leaves and fruits, they experienced no disadvantage. It was only when the human diet lacked fruits and vegetables that they contracted potentially fatal scurvy. That disease often decimated the crews of sailing ships during the extended voyages of the Age of Discovery.

Scent detection was vital for the survival of early mammals, that favored the proliferation of Olfactory Receptor (OR) genes. There are more than 1000 of them in mammalian genomes. The Olfactory Lobe of early mammal brains expanded to process that increase in information, as did the brain itself. When primates took to the trees, that environment called for greater visual acuity, depth perception and hand-eye coordination. The primate brain expanded
in response. As a result, primate brains are, on average, about double the size of similar sized non- primate mammals.

many of them remnants of Olfactory Receptor (scent receptor) genes. While humans have lost an additional 30 of these genes since our ancestral lineage separated from that of chimps, most of those pseudo-genes are hand-me-downs from even more remote relatives, but disabled by exactly the same mutations, again evidence of common ancestry.

We see vestigial structures all through nature. They remain in some cases because they have been adapted for other purposes, in others they remain simply because there has been no evolutionary advantage to eliminating them. They certainly do not support the idea of "intelligent design". They are however, completely consistent with the Theory of Evolution.

HERE IS A LIST OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERIES THAT WERE LATER PROVEN WRONG, USING A SUPERNATURAL EXPLANATION
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4.
5.
6.
etc.
NEVER, in all the history of science has ANY explanation based on empirical evidence EVER been replaced by a supernatural one. One has to question the rationality and credibility of those who maintain otherwise. To claim the existence of something for which NO evidence exists is a sales job on the order of the Emperor's New Clothes.

SOME PEOPLE STILL ASK, "WHY ARE THERE STILL APES (OR MONKEYS)?"
It should be obvious that such people, usually creationists, lack an understanding of what evolution is and how it works. Apparently someone told such people that humans evolved from apes, and from that, due to their lack of education, they assumed that all apes were supposed to evolve into humans. That is not how evolution works, but creationists have no interest in learning anything other than creation mythology.

They might just as well have asked "If dogs are descended from wolves, why are there still wolves?" Or even "If Americans came from Europe, why are there still Europeans?" Just as dogs descended from a population of wolves, so too did humans evolve from one particular population of apes.

What we know is that the first apes evolved in Africa about 25 million years ago from a population of Old World Monkeys. Whereas monkeys run on all four feet across the TOPS of branches, apes evolved the ability to swing, arm over arm, from branch to branch. Evolution works to make each species best suited to their environment. For apes, that environment was the forest and they are well suited for it. At one time there were about 30 different species of apes in those forests.

Had environmental conditions remained the same, we would still see forests covering the whole African continent. However, conditions did not stay the same; the climate became drier. As a result, forested areas shrank in size and were replaced by grasslands, the African savanna, with just a few scattered trees. The shrinking forests put different ape species in competition with each other and many went extinct.

Then, about 6 or 7 million years ago, one population of apes split, with some of them opting for life on that open savanna. All apes are capable of walking upright, they are just not comfortable doing so for long periods of time. Recent experiments with trained chimps on a treadmill have shown that for them, walking upright was more efficient in terms of energy expended than quadrupedal walking. Chimps and other apes though must shift their weight from side to side while walking bipedaly.

That savanna environment favored skeletal changes that placed the knees directly under the center of gravity. by about 4 mya, our ancestral australopithecines had almost the same pelvis, femur, knees and feet as modern humans. That gave them a smooth stride that was efficient for long distance travel. They did however, retain long arms and curved fingers enabling them to climb a tree when danger threatened.

The apes that remained in a forest environment were under little pressure to change. They became the ancestors of today's chimps and bonobos. Those living in the open were presented challenges not experienced by woodland apes, and that required greater intelligence and cooperation to overcome them. It set their descendants on a different evolutionary trajectory that culminated in us.

THERE ISN'T ANY! All the evidence points to DESIGN, CREATION, AND A WORLDWIDE FLOOD!

This is laughable. Why would whales want to evolve out of the water. They would wvolve to be better fish catchers if natural selection was true. They would have no need or reason to evolve to be land animals unless there was not enough food in the ocean. Even then they would all die off and the few remainimg would evolve to be better fish catchers or ocean plant eaters. Also, the 4 similarities between hippos and whales is funny. They both have no hair. Haha. You think. This is rediculous. It is obvious there is a God. Look at the diversity of species. There have been no evolutionary significant changes within the last 2000 years other than devolution.

There could have been a procession of MILLIONS of gods, each one creating the next, before the Biblical god was created. This is just one obvious hypothetical possibility the creatards fail to factor in when claiming their god was the first and only.

There is only one way to destroy atheism
Provide the evidence that your god exists! Now, who is going to be the first in line?
No one?

There are thousands of religions, all of which are products of creation - that of the human mind. Not a single one is supported any evidence at all. TRUTH is determined by EVIDENCE, not by what anyone says and not by words in an old book. THE RULES OF EVIDENCE ARE THIS:
_IF YOU DON'T HAVE ANY... YOU LOSE!

EVOLUTION is a BIOLOGICAL PROCESS, NOT AN EVENT. Evolution proceeds by incremental modification of existing structures. That is what we see, for instance, in the evolution of the heart, from simple muscular contraction of a blood vessel, to the two chambered heart of fish that is basically a thickening of a section of the circulatory system. Higher order vertebrates, like amphibians and reptiles, evolved a 3 chamber heart with two atria(inflow) and one ventricle (out flow). Warm blooded animals, birds and mammals, required the greater oxygenation provided by a 4 chamber heart.
Our brain evolved in a similar manner; it did not just "pop into existence".

SOME PEOPLE STILL ASK, "WHY ARE THERE STILL APES (OR MONKEYS)?"
It should be obvious that such people, usually creationists, lack an understanding of what evolution is and how it works. Apparently someone told such people that humans evolved from apes, and from that, due to their lack of education, they assumed that all apes were supposed to evolve into humans. That is not how evolution works, but creationists have no interest in learning anything other than creation mythology.

They might just as well have asked "If dogs are descended from wolves, why are there still wolves?" Or even "If Americans came from Europe, why are there still Europeans?" Just as dogs descended from a population of wolves, so too did humans evolve from one particular population of apes.

What we know is that the first apes evolved in Africa about 25 million years ago from a population of Old World Monkeys. Whereas monkeys run on all four feet across the TOPS of branches, apes evolved the ability to swing, arm over arm, from branch to branch. Evolution works to make each species best suited to their environment. For apes, that environment was the forest and they are well suited for it. At one time there were about 30 different species of apes in those forests.

Had environmental conditions remained the same, we would still see forests covering the whole African continent. However, conditions did not stay the same; the climate became drier. As a result, forested areas shrank in size and were replaced by grasslands, the African savanna, with just a few scattered trees. The shrinking forests put different ape species in competition with each other and many went extinct.

Then, about 6 or 7 million years ago, one population of apes split, with some of them opting for life on that open savanna. All apes are capable of walking upright, they are just not comfortable doing so for long periods of time. Recent experiments with trained chimps on a treadmill have shown that for them, walking upright was more efficient in terms of energy expended than quadrupedal walking. Chimps and other apes though must shift their weight from side to side while walking bipedaly.

That savanna environment favored skeletal changes that placed the knees directly under the center of gravity. by about 4 mya, our ancestral australopithecines had almost the same pelvis, femur, knees and feet as modern humans. That gave them a smooth stride that was efficient for long distance travel. They did however, retain long arms and curved fingers enabling them to climb a tree when danger threatened.

The apes that remained in a forest environment were under little pressure to change. They became the ancestors of today's chimps and bonobos. Those living in the open were presented challenges not experienced by woodland apes, and that required greater intelligence and cooperation to overcome them. It set their descendants on a different evolutionary trajectory that culminated in us.

GOD WAS A TREMENDOUS INVENTION AND A GREAT BENEFIT TO MANKIND. Before man created God, they felt really stupid. Confronted with any question, all they could say was "Gee, I don't know" and no matter how hard they thought, they couldn't think of a better answer.

Then someone came up with the brilliant idea of God. It was wonderful, it obviated the need to think about anything. The answer could always be "Gee, I don't know, it must be God." Problem solved. The "God concept" alleviated the need to think about mundane things and they could concentrate on serious questions, like "How many bibles can we sell?" There was no incentive for human intellect to advance beyond that of ancient goat herders. Religions need to perpetuate ignorance in order to preserve their influence.

It is quite likely that the "god concept" originated with Homo erectus as an explanation for thunder.

IN THE HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSON STORY ''THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES'', charlatans convinced the emperor to believe what they were telling him on the basis of 'faith', not reason. That is exactly what religions have been doing for more than 15,000 years. They make empty assertions based on no verifiable evidence and enforced by threats of punishment for those who reject dogma.

To assert something to be true for which there is no verifiable evidence is a very dishonest way to get money from suckers.

As Mark Twain said, "Religion was invented when the first con man met the first fool." There will never be a shortage of fools. As P.T. Barnum said; there's "one born every minute".

Mark Twain also observed: It is easier to fool someone than to convince them they have been fooled.
IN THE HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSON STORY ''THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES'', charlatans convinced the emperor to believe what they were telling him on the basis of 'faith', not reason. That is exactly what religions have been doing for more than 15,000 years. They make empty assertions based on no verifiable evidence and enforced by threats of punishment for those who reject dogma.

To assert something to be true for which there is no verifiable evidence is a very dishonest way to get money from suckers.

As Mark Twain said, "Religion was invented when the first con man met the first fool." There will never be a shortage of fools. As P.T. Barnum said; there's "one born every minute".

Mark Twain also observed: It is easier to fool someone than to convince them they have been fooled.

WHY DO CREATIONISTS LIE? Well, first of all, it should be obvious that, if they had any verifiable evidence to support their creation myth, they would not hesitate to post it. Since there is none, and they feel compelled to defend what they see as an attack on their religion, lies and insults are all they are able to come up with.

Now, it should be clear to those capable of rational thought that the concept of evolution makes no statement as to the existence or non-existence of a supreme being. The Theory of Evolution is an explanation for the vast diversity of life on this planet, and it is the only explanation for which any evidence exists. Even the majority of Christians feel that the evidence for evolution is far more compelling than an explanation proposed by ancient peoples thousands of years ago. Most such people feel that if God was the creator, evolution would be the logical means by which he would do so. Evolution is officially accepted as fact by the Episcopalian, Catholic, Presbyterian and United Methodist churches, among others. They have all issued statements endorsing evolution as fact and consistent with Christian doctrine. There is also the Christian Clergy Letter subscribed to by thousands of Christian ministers.

But creationists are of a mindset that cannot accept those facts. The problem becomes clear when examining the "Statements of Faith" insisted upon by creationist websites, that of Answers in Genesis (AiG) is typical. It states in part "By definition, no apparent, perceived or claimed evidence in any field, including history and chronology, can be valid if it contradicts the scriptural record."

By what means can rational discussion be conducted when evidence is rejected? Virtually none. Such an attitude sets creationism at odds with science, which is a search for truth based on evidence. How logical is it for someone to claim they accept the findings of science in some regards, but not others?

'Cognitive Dissonance' is the mental stress or discomfort experienced by an individual who is confronted by information that conflicts with existing beliefs, ideas or values. Beliefs instilled in children are particularly resistant to change, since they tend to become part of that person's identity. Thus any information contradicting those beliefs will be seen as an attack on one's self, causing extreme mental stress and discomfort.

There are but two means by which to resolve Cognitive Dissonance, to either change the belief or to deny and attack the information that contradicts that belief. "Belief is not an idea the mind possesses, belief is an idea that possesses the mind." (Robert Oxton Bolton) . Belief is so inextricably enmeshed in emotion that rational thought becomes impossible. “Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions.” - Albert Einstein

Breaking free of such indoctrination creates its own set of problems. Not only is there inner conflict, but any attempt to do so will certainly meet with resistance from family or circles of acquaintances who have been similarly indoctrinated.

Despite the fact that Charles Darwin has been dead for 130 years and his ideas have been confirmed by thousands of observations by generations of scientists and naturalists, creationists feel they must symbolically disinter his body for use as their "whipping boy". That makes them little more than ghouls.

Why is it that creationists feel they have to lie in an effort to support their religious mythology? Of what value is such a religion?
TRUTH is determined by EVIDENCE, not by what anyone says and not by words in an old book. The Rules of Evidence are this:
IF YOU DON'T HAVE ANY... YOU LOSE!

Evolution is a hoax, yeah everything on earth is related, people and earth worms have 98% similar dna, whats your point.

Imagination is the key to this video. Watch it again and realize how much you are imagining to make sense of what is presented.
Evolution only happens in the Imagination.

Hey. Convincing video. Nearly convinces me of the theory whales evolved from walking land mammals...

But then I remember facts - whales suit the sea. They love it. Good swimmers.... Design makes sense. Sticking with design.

I could not help myself recently when yet another fervent fundie challenged me with: "Which came first...the chicken or the egg?"
Having long since tired of explaining how placental eggs have been around for about 340 million years and that the chicken evolved from southeast Asian wildfowl less than 10,000 years ago, I inserted a little sarcasm instead.
Me: "This is so obvious, how many people other than you know about this?"
His response: "Anyone with half a brain."
Me: "That's terrible.....which half are you missing?"
His response: "What?"
Me: "You just implied that a person needs to be missing half of their brain to realize there is no answer to the chicken or egg question."
His response: "No I didn't, you knew what I meant."
Me: "Stop avoiding the question....which half of your brain is missing...the thinking half or the understanding half?"
He then deleted the thread. It turns out that people who are persistently obtuse hate it when they are confronted by someone being persistently obtuse.

I strongly dislike religious people specifically when they speak on this topic

Creationists after watching this video: "im just gonna ignore that"

I notice that even the most fanatical creationists that get on here invariably end up running away to cry into their Bibles after they're exposed to enough facts.

Similarities doesn’t prove common ancestors, similarity shows common creator

Religious people who deny this should stop living in the West and go live in a sh*thole country like Saudi Arabia where they believe in fairy tales.

Religious organisations prefer to build Noah's Ark theme parks than giving money to the poor.

Harbour seals have front paws, like dogs. Other seal species (and sea lions) have flippers, although those flippers still contain arm, hand and finger bones. Different levels of evolution, observable and obvious.

ALL LIFE ON EARTH IS DEPENDENT ON THE DNA MOLECULE THAT REGULATES BODILY FUNCTIONS AND TRANSMITS HEREDITARY INFORMATION TO PROGENY. That is very strong evidence for common ancestry in that there are about 1 million other molecules that could conceivably perform the same function.
THE FACT THAT THE DNA MOLECULE IS BOTH HERITABLE AND MUTABLE MAKES EVOLUTION INEVITABLE.

The original New Testament dates from the 4th century CE. Prior to that time, individual manuscripts as well as other writings were on scrolls of papyrus that were hand copied (including any errors) and circulated around the Mediterranean. Prior to Emperor Constantine's legitimatizing the Christian religion, it was never a good idea to put ones name to documents identifying ones self as Christian. For that reason, their authors remained anonymous. That includes the authors of the gospels who were educated Greeks, writing in Greek for a Greek audience. Only later were those gospels ascribed the names of disciples to enhance their credibility. It was the mission of church fathers to sell a new religion, facts were immaterial.

It was Roman Emperor Constantine (Constantine the Great) who convened the Council of Nicaea that then proceeded to collect and compile those scraps of papyrus and hand copy them onto more durable parchment (processed animal skins). None of those original manuscripts exist to present day, nor did any exist at the time they were being compiled. The council was dealing with copies of copies of copies (and scraps of them at that).

The earliest bibles, such as the Codex Sinaiticus, were written in book form (a Codex) in Greek. The Gospel according to Mark, you should know, is the earliest of the four gospels, as the others copied from it. 'Mark' tells of the Roman destruction of the Second Temple that occurred in 70 CE, so we know it was written sometime AFTER that date.

The gospel writers referred to a man they called Jesus of Nazareth. "Jesus" is not a Jewish or Hebrew name, it is the Greek approximation of a Hebrew name, most likely Joshua or something similar. He was called 'the Nazarine' as that was his place of birth. The story of Joseph and a pregnant Mary having to travel to Bethlehem for a census is a total fabrication meant to tie the birth to a supposed prediction in the Hebrew Tanakh (later adopted by Christianity as the "Old Testament". That supposed prediction was bogus because the original Hebrew Tanakh refers to a "young woman" giving birth to a son to be named "Emanuel" (NOT JESUS). Reference to a 'virgin' is from a faulty Greek translation of the Tanakh known as the Septuagint. It was a clumsy attempt by Greek converts to a new religion to claim that the birth of the man they called Jesus was predicted.

Natural vs Supernatural and Intelligent Design
Early man had very little understanding of the world/universe in which he lived in. The lack of this understanding led to his conjecture about hidden forces (like a puppet master pulling the strings) responsible for the growth of plants, birth of animals, heat from the sun, sound of thunder and the light from the stars. As time went on, man gradually was able to explain the causes and process of certain natural events. Thus, the area reserved for the “supernatural” began to shrink and the body for the explanation of the “natural” started to grow.

Still, man thirsted for more explanations, his knowledge was growing all too slowly. He needed a shortcut to explain more of his surroundings; and the tribal leaders needed to convince their minions of their special ability to define and interpret what was supernatural. Man also recognized that by projecting this ability, it would be a very powerful tool of control. This “short-cut” was supplied by the invention of religions managed by the ruling class (clergy) who would define the undefinable for the rest of humanity.

In spite of all the retarding forces of organized religions, science moved forward, sometimes unhindered, but often with great difficulties when it ran into the deeply ingrained dogma of organized religions. Eventually, we broke down these artificial barriers with astronomy, biology and physics. Today, remnants of the ancient superstitions remain still. While the area of the “supernatural” has shrunk to minuscule proportions (compared to the explanations of natural), cleverly, the supernatural has morphed by borrowing scientific terminology in a desperate attempt to give it the disguise of (masquerading) as “science”. This new superstition, called Intelligent Design is just the latest stunt of creationists.

To expose the deceit of ID, all we have to do is to ask who or what is the Intelligent Designer? The ID fraudsters (like Meyer, Dembski, Behe, etc.) will (and have) will do just about anything and try to avoid the question and will never give a clear answer.

Of course the answer, they want to give is that the “designer is god”, not just any god, but the Christian god. But they will not give that answer, because they can’t. To answer the question truthfully would expose their scientific sounding mambo-jumbo to be the same backward religion and beliefs as held by bronze age sheep herders.

SOME PEOPLE STILL ASK, "WHY ARE THERE STILL APES (OR MONKEYS)?"
It should be obvious that such people lack an understanding of what evolution is and how it works. Apparently someone told such people that humans evolved from apes, and from that, due to their lack of education, they assumed that all apes were supposed to evolve into humans. That is not how evolution works, but creationists have no interest in learning anything other than creation mythology.

They might just as well have asked "If dogs are descended from wolves, why are there still wolves?" Or even "If Americans came from Europe, why are there still Europeans?" Just as dogs descended from a population of wolves, so too did humans evolve from one particular population of apes.

What we know is that the first apes evolved in Africa about 25 million years ago from a population of Old World Monkeys. Whereas monkeys run on all four feet across the TOPS of branches, apes evolved the ability to swing, arm over arm, from branch to branch. Evolution works to make each species best suited to their environment. For apes, that environment was the forest and they are well suited for it. At one time there were about 30 different species of apes in those forests.

Had environmental conditions remained the same, we would still see forests covering the whole African continent. However, conditions did not stay the same; the climate became drier. As a result, forested areas shrank in size and were replaced by grasslands, the African savanna, with just a few scattered trees. The shrinking forests put different ape species in competition with each other and many went extinct.

Then, about 6 or 7 million years ago, one population of apes split, with some of them opting for life on that open savanna. All apes are capable of walking upright, they are just not comfortable doing so for long periods of time. Recent experiments with trained chimps on a treadmill have shown that for them, walking upright was more efficient in terms of energy expended than quadrupedal walking. Chimps and other apes though must shift their weight from side to side while walking bipedaly.

That savanna environment favored skeletal changes that placed the knees directly under the center of gravity. by about 4 mya, our ancestral australopithecines had almost the same pelvis, femur, knees and feet as modern humans. That gave them a smooth stride that was efficient for long distance travel. They did however, retain long arms and curved fingers enabling them to climb a tree when danger threatened.

The apes that remained in a forest environment were under little pressure to change. They became the ancestors of today's chimps and bonobos. Those living in the open were presented challenges not experienced by woodland apes, and that required greater intelligence and cooperation to overcome them. It set their descendants on a different evolutionary trajectory that culminated in us.

What I do notice is that the apologists and excuse-makers for God are really, REALLY crazy.

What your pastor doesn't want you to know:
1. The Bible was compiled by Romans 300+ years after Jesus 'existed'
2. Jesus never did exist
3. Science and history - these disprove literally every lie in the bible
4. The money you give your pastor every week goes towards his luxury homes and cars.

Creationist hypocrites continue to demand levels of evidence from those of us who are science minded that they have no possibility of equaling from their own creationist position. They have one standard of evidence for their own assertions and a different standard, one impossible to meet, for science. I have ONE standard of evidence and no claim from religious science denying fools has ever met that standard.

I'm a Creationist, and also an Evolutionist

What your pastor doesn't want you to know:
1. The Bible was compiled by Romans 300+ years after Jesus 'existed'
2. Jesus never did exist
3. Science and history - these disprove literally every lie in the bible
4. The money you give your pastor every week goes towards his luxury homes and cars.