Darwin, Britain's Hero, Is Still Controversial In U.S.

Just this morning on a US Christian TV network I caught part of a documentary which they air with great frequency. Full of misinformation, fallacies, irrelevant conclusions, etc. and a frankly overly dramatic production, it's a poor rebuttal to the Evolution theory. But I'm sure it's quite effective on the masses of viewers who with the purest of religious motives seek desperately to dismiss evidence which they feel is attacking their faith.

I've often heard arguments similar to those in the documentary from friends and co-workers. Of late it's been the "irreducible complexity" variety, which is a particular peeve of mine.

Bear in mind I don't wish to make fun of such people's beliefs or intellegence. In fact I marvel in their ability to take their faith so dearly to heart. A remarkable ability that I simply will forever lack.

But it troubles me no end that so many just regurgitate such arguments without making the slightest effort to at least verify that the statements within it are accurate. Doing so would in no way would diminish their religion - quite the contrary. A vague but supported argument is worth a thousand vigorous flimsy ones.

Religions encourage people to have "faith" not to "be correct".

Unfortunately scientists have not always been the open-minded seekers of truth that they should be (or claim to be). In the past the search for evidence of human evolution has resulted in many fakes produced by 'scientists' desperate to force their way into the spotlight and receive accolades within the scientific community.

After 150 years Darwins theory remains a theory. It also has 'evolved' over the years being refined as research has progressed.

I liken it to building a 5000 piece jigsaw puzzle where the picture on the box has been lost. We've managed to join a couple of pieces together here and there - none of them are edges and we haven't yet found the corners. Can anyone say with certainty what the picture is? A bit more humility and a lot less arrogance from both sides is needed.

So true about truth seeking. There is a lot of junk science out there, especially in the currently "hot" fields of environmental and health science. There is a lot of ignoring of actual data when it does not fit the proper beliefs, with people expected to believe through faith. In effect, new religions are being created where people essentially sin against Earth or Nature.

Consequently, many of those mocking others for their shallow religious faith actually worship at the alter of new shallow religions. Maybe it is part of the human condition that everyone believes in something through pure faith, even if not in the traditional God. I am still pondering this and have been for decades...

Charles Darwin, in my opinion, an empty soul seeking answers but looking in the wrong direction.

Evolution is only a theory in the specialized definition of theory used by scientists, that is, a well-established body of knowledge accepted by all scientists in that field, but with some details still in dispute. It is very similar in that regard to the theory of gravity. Science trolls misuse the word "theory" in an attempt to deceive the gullible public.

Darwin and his theories have been used by Darwin, his contemporaries and later-day followers to justify hatefull behavior. The extension of his theory of natural selection suggests:

• Only the strongest have the right to exist.
• The strongest have the responsibility to insure only their line survives.

Many of these thoughts and ideas were suggested and/or agreed upon by Darwin himself. Before we go and give a racist a collection of stamps celebrating his acheivements, we should recognise the other aspects of his thought as well. I'm not sure the godfather of Nazi thought is worth celebrating with a stamp.

Darwin never suggested anything about the "strongest having the right to exist" or "the responsibility to insure only their line survives". He merely observed that in nature the fittest organisms, meaning those that are best adapted to their surrounding environment, will be more likely to survive and thrive in that environment and therefore more likely to procreate and pass their genes and traits, which allowed then to survive better, on to their offspring. In this way species naturally evolve over time. As in the die off of the dinosaurs and the rise of the mammals it wasn't the bigger and stronger dinosaurs that survived but the much smaller and weaker mammals that were the actually the fittest to survive the changing environment of that time. Darwin wasn't a racist and suggesting he was based on a misrepresentation of his ideas is in itself falling into the trap of the hateful and harmful ways of racists.

First off, I was raised in a fanatical christian home where the bible is a ltieral document "proven" to be true. I no longer follow those beliefs, but still get frustrated by the Darwinists. Especially when they portrait the previous forms of humans as monkey or ape like.

I believe (this is the key word that everyone should be using as nothing has been completely proven) evolution can explain how we came about once the rest of the picture is finally filled in. At times, I still have a hard time believing that we came from monkeys because there have not been any reproted cases of human-like mammals coming from monkeys or apes in any of the world's jungle regions.

At this point in time, it is only a theory. To prove the theory to be true, many questions have to be answered. Such as what is the full picture? or how did it happen? or why is it not still happening at the very basic levels (human like mammals evolving from other ape-like creatures or fish evolving legs and then evolving into reptiles)? or why have other animals not evolved into something else since recorded history? Maybe the sasquatch hunters are onto something greater than they know! lol I don't believe that we will ever have the full picture, nor can we mimic what the theory suggests happened in the beginning of life on this planet. Until everything is put together with actual step by step preserved skeletal remains or we can mimic what happened in the beginning of life, this will remain a controversial subject.

Science may be able to eventually explain how, but it will never be able to explain why.

First of all, as an Englishman I have to say that he is NOT everybody's hero here in Britain, I for one have never seen the proof of his theory of evolution no matter how I try! I have studed geology and looked at many thousands of fossils but I have never seen a so-called missing link anywhere?

Darwin also claimed that we humans have developed from some form of Ape, if that was true then from where or what did apes develope from, (from ape to hominid?).

He and others like him have claimed that millions of years ago single-celled creatures evolved into all the animals we see today, if that was true then why don't we see single celled creatures that are alive today evolving into other species?

I am not a practicing christian, nor do I believe in the bible as truth, but Darwin was wrong, and it is also wrong of modern educated people to say that Darwin was right!!!

Spencer.

CR4's Troy, New York blogger, April05, (aka Larry Kelley), wrote a two-part tribute to Charles Darwin - latest installment was posted today. Interested readers can click on these links: Part 1 | Part 2. - Larry