Churches to mark Darwin's birthday (Tomorrow is 'Darwin Day'!)

Chicago Tribune ^ | 11 Feb 2006

[gobucks]

NEW YORK -- Nearly 450 Christian churches around the country plan to celebrate the 197th birthday of Charles Darwin on Sunday with programs and sermons intended to emphasize that his theory of biological evolution is compatible with faith and that Christians have no need to choose between religion and science. "It's to demonstrate, by Christian leaders and members of the clergy, that you don't have to make that choice. You can have both," said Michael Zimmerman, dean of College of Letters and Sciences at University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, who organized the event.

(snip) "Evolution Sunday" has drawn participation from a variety of denominational and non-denominational churches, including Methodist, Lutheran, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Unitarian, Congregationalist, United Church of Christ, Baptist and a host of community churches, including at least 16 congregations in Illinois.

The event grew out of Zimmerman's The Clergy Letter Project, another effort to dispel the perception among many Christians that faith and evolution are mutually exclusive.

..the project has drawn 10,000 Christian clerics to sign a letter that concludes, "We urge school board members to preserve the integrity of the science curriculum by affirming the teaching of the theory of evolution as a core component of human knowledge. We ask that science remain science and that religion remain religion, two very different, but complementary, forms of truth."

Zimmerman said the letter project and the Sunday event were designed to educate Americans about two things. "The first part was to demonstrate to the American public that the shrill fundamentalist voices that were demanding that people had to choose between religion and science were simply wrong," he said.

"The second part was to demonstrate that those fundamentalist leaders that keep standing up and shouting that you can't accept modern science were not speaking for the majority of Christian leaders in this country."

[Revolting cat!]

Which one?

Uh, This country was founded as a Christian nation, not a religious cafeteria. But we're so tolerant we allow you to worship this!

[Thebaddog]

By now, Darwin has recreated as a fish several times.

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

http://www.blackmask.com/Liberal_Arts/Charles_Darwin/more2.html

I am sure many people talking about Darwin have never read his book "Origin of Species".
Above URL is free and might give some insight.

The Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection
From the most remote period in the history of the world organic beings have been found to resemble each other in descending degrees, so that they can be classed in groups under groups. This classification is not arbitrary like the grouping of the stars in constellations. The existence of groups would have been of simple significance, if one group had been exclusively fitted to inhabit the land, and another the water; one to feed on flesh, another on vegetable matter, and so on;

Review This Title O Reviews Recommend this book to a friend! Add to My Bookshelf

MS-Reader † Acrobat † Rocket eBook † Zipped format † iSilo † Mobipocket † EB-1150 † Plucker new (Added: Fri Aug 04 2000 HTML Reads: 1559 Rating: 10.00 Votes: 2) Rate It Fri Aug 04 2000

[Revolting cat!]

Darwin Day? Why not? Have it on a work day so we can all stay home and FReep. And while we're at it, since we had a crypto-Marxist day a week or two ago, why not celebrate the third godfather of the 20th century's atrocities with a Freud Day, also on a work day?

[Snowbelt Man]

My guess is 90% of these people voted for Kerry and hate George Bush. Just a hunch having had some exposure to these "clergy."

[fizziwig]

Yes, they are likely, though not necessarily, "wet" Christians....those who believe in, as C.S. Lewis put it, Christianity and water. Basically, Jesus as a philosopher and that's it...no miracles, no virgin birth, no resurrection.

[LiteKeeper]

You forgot to use the full title of the book. You need to include "or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life" is far too often left off the title. But that is the one that it was originally published with.

Who were the "not-favored" races...the Zulus that the British were fighting with, along with all of the other African tribes, and, of course, the Aborigines of Australia.

[thomaswest]

In 1859, "race" and "species" were used somewhat interchangably. Darwin's work helped to refine the ideas. This led to the modern understanding that all present humans are of the same species.

Of course, you ignore the species that went extinct, possibly as a result of poor design and poor planning from the supposed "Intelligent Designer".

[taxesareforever]

What is truth? Definitely not something of man. So how can there be scientific truth? There can't be.End of story.

[Coyoteman]

What is truth? Definitely not something of man. So how can there be scientific truth? There can't be.End of story.

Mankind has come up with some truths. One good example -- slavery is absolutely wrong.

Surely you can agree with that?

[caveat emptor]

Richard Dawkins, Britain's greatest public intellectual, shown here in meditation, will address the church groups via satellite link. This reverses his long held position that he will not speak to or otherwise acknowledge the existence of people of faith.

His speech will address the attitude they should adopt in the presence of superior beings such as himself so as not to annoy or otherwise give offence. He hopes to be able to help them someday be accepted into sophisticated society, in dimminished circumstances, of course.

He attributes his change of heart to a powerful vision he had several months ago after falling down a flight of stairs. Both he and his wife are appalled by this turn of events, she to the extent of refusing him sex, meal preparation, washing his socks and underwear, and other creaturely comforts.

Although usually a strong-willed person - he has been dubbed "Darwin's Rottweiller" in a play on Huxley's "Darwin's bulldog"- he finds the urge to reach out irresistible and occasionally hears a voice commanding him to do so.

Although he has rejected psychotherapy on grounds there is no psyche, he has taken up Tantric meditiation and hired a masseuse (you know what I mean), a cook and laundress in hopes of restoring some degree of normalcy in his life.

[wallcrawlr]

Me neither

[LiteKeeper]

I reject your premise that "race" and "species" were interchangable. Any evidence of the same?

[higgmeister]

What a boob.....I don't think anyone is "demanding that people had to choose between religion and science"....they are demanding a PLACE at the TABLE (in school) FOR RELIGION. SHEESH. (see my tagline)

A PLACE at the TABLE or A SEAT in the PEW (in Church)? (see my tagline)

[Ken H]

It would be interesting to know how many are named Steve.

[higgmeister]

It would make more sense to celebrate Thomas Alva Edison's birthday (Feb. 11) since Edison's contributions to the modern world are of a more practical character than Darwin's.

It would make sense for those of you that are already in
bed because electric lights and electricity don't exist.

There would still be a very ugly and very vocal minority
protesting against Edison because something as intricate
as a motion picture projector could not have been invented
by a human without supernatural intervention.

[Jonathon Spectre]

What is truth? Definitely not something of man. So how can there be scientific truth? There can't be.End of story.

Tell me about it. That Darwin was a madman, theorizing that creatures that do things better over time are more successful. And the very idea that things change over time! Shocking! One has only to look at a tree or a human being to know that everything is static.

It's much more likely that the Almighty Creator of the Universe would choose to reveal himself by magically impregnating a virgin with Himself so he could commit ritualistic suicide to set an example for all of us.

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

I do not believe you have ever read his book.