Really, CTD, I'm surprised you missed it.
Nothing in the added text helps you guys. "When applied to biology, evolution generally refers to changes in life forms over time," is the only sentence that refers to 'evolution' in all that you added. That's a pretty "Duh!"/self-evident clarification.
Evolution = change
Biological evolution = biological change
I think folks could figure that out without redundancy, don't you?
The rest of the paragraph talks about "The Theory of Biological Evolution". You want to confuse the two and turn around and accuse me of confusing them. Bad strategy. Bad tactic. It's all bad. Please go there again.
It adds the context of what kind of change they are talking about. Here it is again:
Evolution itself is simply the process of change over time. When applied to biology, evolution generally refers to changes in life forms over time. "The Theory of Biological Evolution" is a term used to refer to the proposition that all forms of life on earth are related through common descent, that inheritable traits are passed on from parent organisms to their offspring, that some changes naturally arise when organisms have offspring, and that over time these changes have resulted in the variety of life that we see on earth today.
What changes in what they are they talking about? Inheritable traits, only inheritable traits are passed from parent to offspring and then to their offspring.
How do these changes arise? They occur naturally in offspring. In other words, mutations happen.
What kind of time are they talking about? The time from parent to offspring: generations. Several generations.
What they are saying (although it could be worded better, I agree) is that the theory of evolution is that
changes in hereditary traits in populations from generation to generation (ie evolution) occur, and that this (evolution) has "resulted in the variety of life that we see on earth today".
I'm surprised you didn't see the similarity between this and what I have said many times is a simple way to state the theory of evolution: that evolution (the change in hereditary traits in populations from generation to generation) is sufficient to explain the diversity of life (as we know in the world today, from history, prehistory, the fossil record and the genetic record).
I'm not confused about the difference between evolution and the theory of evolution, as stated here, because I can read within the context of the article. Can you?
Does this affect the reality of evolution in any way? Nope.
Does this affect the validity of the theory of evolution in any way? Still nope.
Enjoy.
ps - I thought you would like the article, as it went into the history of thoughts about evolution and the christian opposition to it way before Darwin. You like history eh?
