The list of common misconceptions includes this clarification:
The word “theory” in “the theory of evolution” does not imply doubt in mainstream science about the validity of this theory; the words “theory” and “hypothesis” are not the same in a scientific context (see Evolution as theory and fact). A scientific theory is a set of principles which, via logical deduction, explains the observations in nature. The same logical deductions can be made to predict observations before they are made. The theory describing how evolution occurs is a “theory” in the same sense as the theory of gravity or the theory of relativity.