Tru said:
Are you suggesting evolution is an illusion or a myth?
He's suggestion that it's a "theory", which is exactly what it is. Very few scientists claim to be certain about the topic. The idea of natural selection is fairly undisputed - ie. that those who are "stronger" will survive and be able to breed more than those who are not - but the suggestion that dramatic changes in species have come about through random mutations is still very much disputed. Even fairly recent newspaper reports claiming to "prove the theory of evolution" have typically only given (very strong) evidence for natural selection (ie. kill lots of rats with rat poison and you will end up with more rats that can cope with it - this isn't evidence of random mutations, it's evidence that, having killed all of the rats that can't survive the poison, those few (who already existed) who can survive the poison are able to multiply more successfully.
Indeed, modern human society effectively negates natural selection to some extent - even the weakest and most disabled of us are often able to reproduce and aren't subject to attack from predators, say. Heartless though it sounds to say it, the result is that genetic defects that might otherwise have been removed in one generation remain for much longer.
The suggestion that "if evolution was real then we would be able to grow our arms back" is a very unusual one as opposition for evolution. Our limbs are so enormously complicated that even someone who entirely believes that mutations have resulted in dramatic changes in species (ie. the thoery of evolution) probably wouldn't expect it to be possible. Enormously impressive attributes in certain creatures that seems unlikely to have come about through mutation are usually seen as an arguement against evolution rather than in favour of it.
The Theory of Evolution is just that - a theory. (edit: Well, I'm over-emphasising this - it's a "theory" in the scientific sense of what most / many scientists believe to be the closest model of the truth. As with just about everything in science, it seems very likely that scientific opinion will continue to change) The actual evidence infavour of it is less than many people would imagine. (not to say it's not strong, but neither is it indisputable)
Gilly said:
Do you have evidence of this?
Most religious bods I know understand evolution and what it has done for us. Even the most devout christians I know don't try to argue against evolution.
I would be enormously surprised if that were true. Very few people would argue against natural selection, or indeed that some features of certain similar species are caused by mutations and then survival of the fittest, but there's a reason why it's a "theory" of evolution.