Sigh. Ok, pete, I will give that explanation, but I fear it will be like drawing teeth. We will have to do it in very small steps, so it may take many, many posts, but here we go.

The basis of the theory of evolution is:

1. Inheritance: characteristics are passed from parents to offspring.

2. Variation: individuals have slightly different inheritances.

3. Natural Selection: The chances of surviving to maturity can be affected by this variation

4. Speciation: With enough accumulated differences, decedents of a given collection of creatures can become sufficiently different they are different species.


Now, to be absolutely clear whether we think that is true or not is not the question. All we are interested in is whether it is an accurate description of the theory. And for other readers of the thread, I'm doing my best to keep it to the simplest form, so I appreciate I haven't, for example, even mentioned genes.

pete: Do you agree it is an accurate description of the theory?