Today is Darwin Day

Today marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin. There’s been a certain amount of fanfare leading up to today but not what I expected. Having checked around on the web a little, I’m surprised there wasn’t more coverage of the event. Yahoo didn't mention it on its front page. Darwin didn’t show up in Yahoo’s top ten searches either. And on The Learning Channel, he was totally eclipsed by Abe Lincoln (who coincidentally was also born 200 years ago today).

By the way, isn’t it odd there’s no Newton Day or Einstein Day?

Darwin, of course, is considered the father of modern evolutionary theory. The publishing of his book, The Origin of Species, was a landmark in science, where the idea of adaptation via natural selection was given voice. Today, even Darwin’s name is sometimes considered synonymous with his theory – “Darwinism.” This icon of evolution, though, is also iconic of the attitudes of many disbelievers today.

As a young man, Darwin considered a career in the clergy and studied Theology at the University of Cambridge. But Darwin had begun to doubt his faith and expressed his doubts to his cousin, Emma, whom he later married. Perhaps the turning point in his life came at the death of his 10 year old daughter, Anne. In a letter to botanist, Asa Gray, Darwin wrote the following:

"With respect to the theological view of the question: This is always painful to me. I am bewildered. I had no intention to write atheistically, but I own that I cannot see as plainly as others do, and as I should wish to do, evidence of design and beneficence on all sides of us. There seems to me too much misery in the world. I cannot persuade myself that a beneficent and omnipotent God would have designedly created the Ichneumonidae with the express intention of their feeding within the living bodies of caterpillars or that a cat should play with mice... On the other hand, I cannot anyhow be contented to view this wonderful universe, and especially the nature of man, and to conclude that everything is the result of brute force. I am inclined to look at everything as resulting from designed laws, with the details, whether good or bad, left to the working out of what we may call chance."

Evolution and theism don’t blend well. The god of evolutionists is a cruel one who creates by destroying. To them, death is not the enemy, it’s the favorite tool of god. It’s no wonder that evolution tends to undermine faith.