Other Theories

You should be able;
to suggest reasons why scientists cannot be certain about how life began on Earth
to interpret evidence relating to evolutionary theory
to suggest reasons why Darwin’s theory of natural selection was only gradually accepted
to identify the differences between Darwin’s theory of evolution and conflicting theories
to suggest reasons for the different theories.

Is Evolution just a theory?

Scientists make judgements based on evidence. At the end of the day it is impossible to absolutely prove any theory but when there is a huge amount of evidence to support it then any rational person must accept that it is probably true. Sadly not everyone thinks like this. There are some people who still believe that the Earth is flat.

When Darwin first proposed his theories in his book On the Origin of Species in 1859 many scientists did not accept its conclusions. Why?

It was new. It takes time for a theory to be accepted, especially one which is so radical. Scientists are very sceptical. Good scientists would think it was an interesting idea but wait for more evidence to either support or refute it before they made up their minds. Darwin himself knew how radical his theory was and delayed its publication for many years.	The age of the Earth. Evolution would take many millions of years to happen. many scientists believed that the Earth was only a few thousand years old. When geologists realised how old the Earth actually was this was a big boost for the theory.	Religious "arguments" God made the Earth and and all the creatures on it in 6 days, not in millions of years. God made man. Man didn't evolve from apes. We are special. Darwin's theory goes against what is written in the bible. If you believe the bible to be a historical document than you cannot accept evolution. This is a huge argument in the U.S. today with many states banning the teaching of evolution altogether and many more insisting that it be taught alongside creationism.

Lamarckism

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744-1829) suggested that organisms can pass on characteristics acquired during their lifetimes to their offspring.

If a blacksmith spends most of his life banging with a hammer then his children will be born with strong muscles.

If giraffes spend most of their lives stretching for food high up in trees then their offspring will have longer necks.

Lamarck's theory was abandoned pretty soon after Darwin's theory was accepted. Nevertheless there has been some interest in it recently. Studies have been done to see how behaviour of some animals can be inherited. Lamarckism has some use in explaining how cultures evolve.

Creationism

God created the Earth and created humans. He, according to the bible, created man in his own image. Apart from the bible is there any evidence to support creationism?

There is an argument that there are some things that are so complex, e.g. a human eye, that they could not possibly have evolved from such a random process as evolution but had to have been created by a supreme being. This theory is called "intelligent design". There is, of course, no evidence whatsoever that a supreme being was involved. The advantage of this theory it that it fits in with certain fundamental religious beliefs. (...and evolution can describe how the eye evolved)

Theories like this prosper in America mainly for political reasons. There has never been a U.S. president brave enough to admit that they didn't believe in god. If they did then a huge proportion of American voters would reject them outright. America is a very insular country. Over 60% of Americans don't have a passport. They are very protective of their beliefs and their culture and church plays a very important role in their lives.