I must apologise for bringing Charles Darwin and his natural selection and Origin of Species up again. It has been done to death and then some. Last Sunday on ABC tv an excellent series on Darwin and his friends and family has reignited my passion. Darwin wasn’t the first to think of the evolution of man, but he had the facts and figures to give it scientific worth. Most of the establishment and scientists at the time were literalists, if they thought about it at all.
It took an unusual mix of factors to get his ideas into print. He was bitter towards God for letting two of his children die young. His own health was poor( cyclical vomiting) apparenly partly due to inbreeding. As with most successful men their women are often overlooked as the reason for success or death. Darwins wife Emma had much to put up with, but as a Wedgwood women, she had the money and skills needed to gather support. She was more deeply religious than Charles.
I cannot understand , then or now,why there is so much antagonism between the concepts of creation and evolution. Evolution is evident in the creation story of Genesis. First the light, then ocean, sky,earth,plants, a bit more light, fish,birds animals and humans.
Evolution is also evident in the Old Testament in the creation of the Jewish society. First, as in Leviticus, Deuteronomy, and numbers there is great emphasis on laws and rules. As the OT progresses the chapters deal with history,prophecy, beautiful poetry and songs about love and nature, fatherly advice (often stern) and aphorisms, many of which are on our desk calenders today. So for me, evolution and creation go together. There is no conflick and in any case it is not for us to understand God .
Using our God given brains we may work out how some things have occcured, but we are only nibling at eternity.
Why Darwin is so important is also illustrated by good young Joe Hockey (a local boy to ) ,for being criticised by some clerics ( SMH Sat 14/11/09) for offering some of his religious beliefs to the electorate. He wasn’t preaching, just letting us know what he stands for and that IMO is a vital element in a democratic society.
After World WAr 2 we used to here the saying “I might not believe in what you say, but i will defend to the death your right to say it” Perhaps we should hear this more often.
Final part 3 of Darwin series is on next Sunday 7.30 pm.