#229 Christian Kids and Evolution

Now that I have a child of my own, I have had to start thinking about how to go about introducing him to the idea of evolution as it stands in tension to traditional concepts of creation and nature. But it's drivel like this that made Christian kids like me not bother to give evolution the time of day:

"Scientists say the fossil, dubbed "Ida," is a transitional species, living around the time the primate lineage split into two groups: A line that would eventually produce humans, primates and monkeys, and another that would give rise to lemurs and other primates."

This quote was taken from a article describing the recently reported discovery (which actually happened back in the 80s) of a 47 million year-old fossil. Now I have no problem believing this is a 47 million year-old fossil. What I do have a problem with, and have always had a problem with, is the mass degree of extrapolation from the evidence that takes place amongst evolutionary biologists/paleontologists. The degree of speculation taken as fact is astonishing and mirrors the mindset of our fundamentalist brothers and sisters. The speculation in the quote above relates specifically to lineage and the descent of modern day forms of life, but the imagination of so-called scientists is not limited to questions of lineage. I know this from watching plenty of hours of the Discovery Channel and public broadcasting as a child. This imaginative speculation clothed in the language of fact caused me to write-off the whole concept of evolution as a child and not have any desire to give it a time of day. If scientists wish to reach out to those who they consider the ignorant and sheltered, they had better learn not only to speak in a more credible way, but to focus on what is knowable directly from science, while avoiding debatable historical reconstruction.