A Christian Progressive Happy Birthday to Charles Darwin

Yesterday, February 12, marked the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin. The naturalistic view of life that Darwin introduced during his time has changed the way we see our world. His controversial theory of evolution through natural selection has survived for 150 years, amidst the constant deluge of attacks from conservative religious groups and theologians, and has become the foundation of the many new biological sciences we know today.

I found this very interesting article on the Washington post yesterday about a christian progressive's view of Charles Darwin. It talks about the clash between Theology and Darwinism. It is a very good article, and well worth reading.

From the Washington Post: A Christian Progressive Happy Birthday to Charles Darwin

In my own work as a Christian progressive, I have found evolutionary biology, and especially the Human Genome Project, a source of rich dialogue between theology and science. As we celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, however, the norm for the relationship between religion and science is anything but productive and respectful. Instead, anti-Darwinist views in conservative and even moderate-to-conservative Christianity have been increasing, especially in the last quarter century.

As a Christian, an advocate of human rights, and a person strongly committed to democratic ideals, I believe Darwin's work was of consummate importance for human progress. I further believe that religious progressives need to speak out more directly against a religious campaign against evolutionary biology. We need to say clearly that this targeting of evolution by conservative Christianity is far more political in origin than it is purely theological.

There is no doubt that Darwin's legacy in science has been vast; the theory of natural selection that gave rise to the Darwinian revolution underlies both theory and method in science. The Darwinian upheaval is just this: the origin of species is bottom up, through natural forces, rather than top-down and fixed like conservative Christian theology in particular would contend.

This is where all the trouble arises. The idea that human life is continuous with other creatures and indeed with the whole planet is a profoundly destabilizing idea for religious and political practices of dominance and control. This whole struggle is more about politics than it is about abstract issues like religious faith and secularism. In the 200 years since Charles Darwin's birth, this has changed very little.

Read more. It is very good.

Happy Birthday Chuck!

Today marks the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin. The naturalistic view of life that Darwin introduced during his time has changed the way we see our world. His controversial theory of evolution through natural selection has survived for 150 years, and has become the basis or foundation of the many new biological sciences we know today. Olivia Judson of the New York Times on the great man.

Before the “Origin,” similarities and differences between species were mere curiosities; questions as to why a certain plant is succulent like a cactus or deciduous like a maple could be answered only, “Because.” Biology itself was nothing more than a vast exercise in catalog and description. After the “Origin,” all organisms became connected, part of the same, profoundly ancient, family tree. Similarities and differences became comprehensible and explicable. In short, Darwin gave us a framework for asking questions about the natural world, and about ourselves.

He was not right about everything. How could he have been? Famously, he didn’t know how genetics works; as for DNA — well, the structure of the molecule wasn’t discovered until 1953. So today’s view of evolution is much more nuanced than his. We have incorporated genetics, and expanded and refined our understanding of natural selection, and of the other forces in evolution.

But what is astonishing is how much Darwin did know, and how far he saw.

Read Olivia Judson's opinion piece on the NYT here. It is very good.

Darwin's Living Legacy - Evolutionary Theory 150 Years Later

From Scientific American: Darwin’s Living Legacy - Evolutionary Theory 150 Years Later

A Victorian amateur undertook a lifetime pursuit of slow, meticulous observation and thought about the natural world, producing a theory 150 years ago that still drives the contemporary scientific agenda.

When the 26-year-old Charles Darwin sailed into the Galápagos Islands in 1835 onboard the HMS Beagle, he took little notice of a collection of birds that are now intimately associated with his name. The naturalist, in fact, misclassified as grosbeaks some of the birds that are now known as Darwin’s finches. After Darwin returned to England, ornithologist and artist John Gould began to make illustrations of a group of preserved bird specimens brought back in the Beagle’s hold, and the artist recognized them all to be different species of finches.