A New Jersey congressman has proposed setting aside Feb. 12 to honor Charles Darwin (Darwin Day) for his contribution to the natural sciences and the importance of science in the betterment of humanity.
Conservative Republicans are opposed to the resolution. Gee, what a surprise. It sort of gives added meaning to a bumper sticker I saw recently: “Repeal the 21st century. Vote Republican!” Hopefully, most of us are ahead of that Mississippi mindset in our scientific thinking.
The ideas Darwin put forth were not developed to subvert Christianity’s religious beliefs, but to explain the mechanism of natural selection and for the diversity of life on Earth.
Now we know that lightning is not Zeus getting mad, and the Earth is not the center of the universe. If it were not for scientists like Darwin, we still would be in the Dark Ages — building cathedrals, sitting by fires for warmth and light, and dying of the plague.
Darwin enlightened us all, as author Dan Barker noted: “Darwin showed us we are not above nature. We are not just a part of nature. We are nature. We are natural creatures in a natural world.”
We honor a drug-addicted entertainer by lowering government flags, yet a man who enlightened all of humankind cannot even get the support of House conservatives.
I think, however, as people become better educated on the subject of evolution, it will eventually be accepted, as most of us today now accept the spherical Earth and the sun-centered solar system.
Borden Applegate
Jackson