Joe Offer
So, Snail, what is it that you think is the correct thing to say about the theory of evolution, if we can't say it's "true"?

The theory of evolution is a scientific theory and is, therefore, subject to all the limitations that that implies. In particular, it cannot be said to be true. This is not my idea; it is basic scientific orthodoxy. I have quoted Professors Einstein ad Dawkins in support. Have a look here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_theory

Here are some highlights -

It makes falsifiable predictions with consistent accuracy across a broad area of scientific inquiry (such as mechanics).

A theory which is not refutable by any conceivable event is non-scientific. Irrefutability is not a virtue of a theory (as people often think) but a vice.

And from Stephen Hawking - "A theory is a good theory if it satisfies two requirements: It must accurately describe a large class of observations on the basis of a model that contains only a few arbitrary elements, and it must make definite predictions about the results of future observations." He also discusses the "unprovable but falsifiable" nature of theories, which is a necessary consequence of inductive logic, and that "you can disprove a theory by finding even a single observation that disagrees with the predictions of the theory."

Heck, even Pope John Paul II said that evolution is "more than just a theory," so it seems that Steve Shaw is in pretty good company.

With all due respect to his late Holiness, he is wrong. (Am I allowed to say that?) It is a scientific theory which, as I think even Steve has said, is as good as it gets in science. Steve does seem to agree with him though, describing Darwinism as a "great truth".

As for me, I'd say that the Theory of Evolution is "the closest we've come to the facts so far."

Fair. I would prefer to say "the best fit to the facts so far."

I do think there's room for deeper understanding, but I believe we're on the right track.

Of course there is room for deeper understanding. The more we find out, the more we find what we don't know. That's the joy of it.