Gad, what a train wreck of ignorance and stupidity.
"I know it doesn't do either of those things, however evolution is being taken to extremes and these extremes are being touted as science (causing an uproar and a change in view back to Creationism to 'successfully' fend off the attack)."
1. I don't know what "extremes are being touted as science," in your opinion, so I cannot address specifics. However, I suspect that by "extremes" you mean anything that doesn't agree with the Bible. That's not "extreme" -- it is simply the way the facts fall. Too bad. Deal with it.
2. As for "causing an uproar and a change in view back to Creationism," you have the cause and effect reversed. Creationists never stopped being creationists, and they have been attacking science in general and evolutionary theory in particular all along because they feel threatened by it -- not because of any "extremes," but because fundies cannot stand even the mildest implications of evolutionary theory (or, if they're YECs, of modern geology, astronomy, physics, or much else in science). This is not because of science ever "attacking" creationism or religion -- it simply is what it is, which is the study of evidence, wherever the evidence leads it. The only reason that there has been substantial growth in popularity of creationism is that the state of science education in this country has been woefully neglected, and scientists felt that even discussing the childish notion of creationism was beneath them, so they have been guilty of sins of omission on this point -- while you, on the other hand, kept actively and doggedly sabotaging science education by filling people's heads with nonsense, so you are guilty of sins of commission on this point, which is far worse. (Note that the term "sins" in this context is entirely colloquial and is not intended to refer to offending any deity.) But scientists have finally had enough of being ignored, attacked, and lied about by you people, which is why they are finally fighting back to have the facts heard.
"The philosophical brand of evolution (see Dawkins for details) is being treated as science, and does threaten the idea of a god's existence."
Actually, LOGIC threatens the whole idea of a god's existence, especially that of the biblical God, and much of the Bible itself directly undercuts any reasonable evidence for the existence of a god if one examines it at all rationally.
If a god does exist, it's got plenty of ability to show itself; and if the God of the Bible exists, it also has a lot to answer for. But so far, it hasn't shown itself at all. So that about wraps it up for God.
"It's also been used to justify a wide range of things.
Yes, some people (e.g., eunegics fanatics of the late 19th and early 20th century) have falsely tried to use some twisted variation of evolutionary theory to support their crackpot views. But don't blame the scientists, or the science, for that. That's like blaming Henry Ford, or the existence of highways, for all those speeding drivers that cut you off in traffic. Misuse of the tool does not invalidate the tool -- it invalidates the person misusing it.
"In effect it is a religion."
Get thee to a dictionary. Evolutionary theory is science, which means that it is, by definition, evidence-based. Religion is, by definition, faith-based. There's nothing scientific about religion, and there's nothing religious about science. So shut up and go away already.
~David D.G.
