Are there evidences of evolution that justify calling it a fact? Here's a simple explanation of why evolution is both a fact and a theory.
By calling this site "Proof of Evolution," I'm saying that the fact that life on this planet evolved is provable. There are varying shades of theory as to how it evolved, but anyone with a big enough shovel can see that it did evolve.
If you dig down in the layers of the earth, you find fossils of life forms that don't exist anymore, and you don't find fossils of life forms that exist now.
That's pretty much a smoking gun.
The question is, what happened?
Tiktaalik Rosae; intermediate between fish and land animals, found because the consistency of the evidences of evolution—both in layers of the earth and geography—let scientists know exactly where to look for such a fossil.
Drawn by Nobu Tamura, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Did God kill off all the old life over and over again, and then create similar but different life forms, leaving only a small percentage relatively unchanged? Or is it possible that something could happen so that over time, that old, very different life, could evolve into what's around now.
For many forms of life, it's easy to find a series of fossils leading from ancient life to modern. Whales and humans are two of them.
The question is, is that really possible?
We now know it's possible. Every living cell on the planet reads the same DNA. We even produce insulin for diabetics by taking a human gene and putting it in yeast, so that the yeast will produce insulin for us!
We know that DNA changes, and there are some genes, especially those that are in multiple species, for which we can trace the changes.
Those sort of evidences of evolution seem irrefutable to me.
I am a Christian, and I'm sorry to see that so many Christians see evolution as a frightening attack on our faith. I know that the evidences of evolution are a highly emotional issue for many.
The best answer we have is to preach a Gospel that brings people into real relationship with Jesus Christ. For those who know Jesus, there is no scientific evidence that can shake our faith, nor will we be bothered to find out that some parts of the Bible might have a primarily spiritual and allegorical meaning.
In all the sacred books ... In the case of a narrative of events, the question arises as to whether everything must be taken according to the figurative sense only, or whether it must be expounded and defended also as a faithful record of what happened. No Christian will dare say that the narrative must not be taken in a figurative sense. For St. Paul says: Now all these things that happened to them were symbolic [1 Cor. 10:11]. And he explains the statement in Genesis, And they shall be two in one flesh [Gen. 2:24], as a great mystery in reference to Christ and to the Church [Eph. 5:32]. (St. Augustine, The Literal Meaning of Genesis I:1-2, c. A.D. 400)
Asked about what evolution evidence is the most irrefutable, Richard Dawkins answered in the following way. Dawkins is a renowned atheist, but fact remains fact, even if we Christians don't like it. Jesus Christ is, after all, in our opinion—certainly in my opinion—the Truth, not what we wish were the truth. Jesus isn't afraid of the facts, even if you are.
It's a bit difficult to end a page with a word from Richard Dawkins, so let me give you this link to a debate that he held with John Lennox in which I was very impressed with Mr. Lennox.