Firstly, all evolution states is that animals change over time. THAT IS IT.
We can dig down into the earth and see that modern animals aren't in earlier earths history (there are no rabbits in dinosaur times) and the animals that were in ancient times aren't here now (there are no giant sharks now) , but by chance.....lol....there are animals that look like both in between. Also by DNA we can see that these animals are all relatives and are present today in some cases. Darwin noticed that the bones found showed similarities and tiny changes over time and that there was a process in place that obvioulsy introduces small changes to species over time.
That is it!
Tha is ALL evolution is.
Now we can see DNA and cellular function and we have worked out how these tiny changes come about. When copying the dna as our cells constantly do, they sometimes read the 4 letter coding wrong, so e.g. instead of reading TACG AATT it may accidentslly get copied as TACG AATAAAAAAAAAAA and that may result in sickle cell shaped red blood cells instead of round ones, or a difference in colour of skin, or from having a hairy body to having no hair etc etc.
That is all evolution is. If that small change in DNA is no good for you in the enviroment you live you will likely not do well, if the accidental dna copying leads to something beneficial e.g. a hairy body in an enviroment getting colder.....guess what.... your genes will survive better and therefore the hairy colony will grow and eventually dominate.
Many that don't understand evolution recognise that otjers don't either and so add more to the mix. Where and how life began on earth IS NOTHING TO DO WITH EVOLUTION, and neither is the big bang. All evolution is, is the study of animals changing over time. The reason it caused a stir in religious circles 200yrs ago is that people thought the earth was 6000yrs old, that the animals as they are now were made by god in eden, therefore animals could not possibly have changed without gods hand.
As for an argument from authority and the petition.....
I have heard a doctor say that humans used to all be 600ft tall, 6000 years ago.
I have met and spoke with a world renound christian biologist expert that admitted to me that if they saw evidence that contradicted the bible, they would have to reject the evidence. Ot was the last thing he said to me. I was recording the interview as a project on medical ethics and evolution.The next day he requested I destroyed the tape and formally removed permission for me to use anything he had said. This chap contributed to textbooks as an expert in enzymes. Enzyme science is hugely based on evolution. The most embarrassing thing he said to me was that Dawkins was a fool because of his book title "The selfish gene."...why? because genes can't have feelings.... My jaw fell.
He gave me two reasons for denying evolution, one a hamster gene ( he couldn't rememeber the name or details) that he heard couldn't be explained by evolution in the 90's he admitted he had not researched it since hearing that. Secondly he said there was a rock formation in devon that in one section had an unexpected formation, indicating geological dating globally is wrong. Again he didnt have any details other than he saw it in a christian documentary once. I swear this was his evidence! I asked if it was possible the video was bias, misinformed, he said likely not. I asked when he watched the video and he said the 80's. I asked if he had in any way researched to see what geologists say about this formation now and he said no.
My point.......
"Scientist" means nothing, evidence means EVERYTHING.
It is impossible to find ANY evidence that the sun goes around the earth because it doesn't. It was believed to be true becuase of the bible and tradition. Evolution has 200 years of evidence behind it, growing by the day with NOT ONE piece of controversial opposing evidence found to this dsy. It is impossible for it to be untrue because we witness it taking place.
Evolution tales a long time and so without understanding evolution and its mechanism it is hard to see what evidence is. Every single fossil is evidence for evolutiom. If you took a photo of a human every day of its life, from conception you could look at photo one and see a single cell and the last photo and see an aged human, yet there will not be a 'missing link', a half cell half pensioner image. Every photo is a missing link and then ever photo could itself be broken down into changes taking place every hour, every minute, every second etc etc etc. So likewise looking at the fossil remains of the evolution of the whale there is no half whale half mammal, the changes in the species took place over millions of years with tiny changes every generation. Just like the imperceivable changes in a human by day but yet result in amazing change over time. A single cell became an old person. Think about how much change that is, likewise animals evolve too.
