Darwin // Current

Chinese Challenge 'Out of Africa' Theory

"The discovery of an early human fossil in southern China may challenge the commonly... more

rodstradamus
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11 days ago
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The New, Revised Charles Darwin

Though Charles Darwin thought of religion as a tribal survival strategy, in 1879 he wrote that "I think that generally ... an agnostic would be the most correct description of my state of mind.” When he published The Origin of Species 150 years ago, he deliberately avoided the subject of the origin of life. This, coupled with the mention of the 'Creator' in the last paragraph of the book, led many to believe he was not willing to commit on the matter.

Now, an international team, led by Juli Peretó of the Cavanilles Institute in Valencia, refutes that idea and shows that the British naturalist did explain in other documents how our first ancestors could have come into being.

"All organic beings that have lived on Earth could be descended from some primordial form", explained Darwin in The Origin of Species in 1859. Despite this statement, the scientist took it upon himself to understand the evolutional processes underlying biodiversity.

"Darwin was convinced of the incredible importance of this issue for his theory and he had an amazingly modern materialist and evolutional vision about the transition of inanimate chemical matter into living matter, despite being very aware of Pasteur's experiments in opposition to spontaneous generation", Juli Peretó, principal author of this study and researcher at the Cavanilles Institute of Evolutional Biology and Biodiversity at the University of Valencia, explains to SINC.

The study, which is published in the latest issue of the journal Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres, demonstrates that Darwin had an advanced idea on the origin of the first species, and was troubled by the problem. "It is utterly wrong to think that he was invoking a divine intervention; it is also well documented that the mention of the 'Creator' in The Origin of the Species was an addition for appearance's sake that he later regretted", affirms Peretó.

According to the researchers, all Darwin's opinions on the origin of life can be found in his private correspondence and in his notebooks. The exception is a review of a book on foraminiferous microorganisms published in 1863 in the London social club Athenaeum, where Darwin "lets his opinion on the spontaneous generation be known".

The international team, comprising Spanish, US and Mexican scientists, has not only examined in detail the phrases, texts and paragraphs of the letters, but has also put into context all Darwin's opinions on the origins of life, available online and in the original manuscripts.

A comment in a notebook dating back to 1837, in which Darwin explains that "the intimate relationship between the vital phenomena with chemistry and its laws makes the idea of spontaneous generation conceivable", gave the researchers their clue.

In another famous letter sent in 1871 to his friend, the English botanist and explorer Joseph D. Hooker, Charles Darwin imagines a small, warm pool where the inanimate matter would arrange itself into evolutionary matter, aided by chemical components and sufficient sources of energy.

In other letters, the naturalist admitted to colleagues such as Alfred Russel Wallace or Ernst Haeckel that spontaneous generation was important to the coherence of the theory. However, "at the same time, he acknowledged that science was not advanced enough to deal with the question (hence his reluctance to speak of it in public) and that he would not live to see it resolved", Peretó points out.Though Charles Darwin thought of religion as a tribal survival strategy, in 1879 he... more

pjacobs51
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Scientific study shows Einstein, Darwin and Freud werent so rational after all

University researchers, examined the letter correspondence of 16 famous writers,... more

elle35
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Kirk Cameron smears Darwin, promotes creationism (Video)

Kirk Cameron is smearing Darwin, and promoting creationism. In what can only be... more

locutus
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Why are females horny?

Why do some female animals have horns? This was one of the many mysteries pondered by... more

Anne_Foy
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Origin Into Schools

Let's play a game; you rage, you lose. On November 21, the 150th anniversery of The... more

MizPiz
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1 month ago
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New Charles Darwin film is 'too controversial' for religious American audiences

A new British film about Charles Darwin has failed to land a distribution deal in the... more

AndreaKnoll
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2 months ago
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Toe-biting 'lake monster' caught in Darwin

It had been billed as the "Loch Alexander monster" - a giant fish that had bitten an... more

Hypo_Mix
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3 months ago
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Man kills two fellow passengers after they complain about his humming

A man stabbed three men, killing two, after they complained about his humming on a... more

FreshPlastic
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3 months ago
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Atheists vs. Agnostics:free-thinker gathering in Alabama

The Alabama Freethought Association (AFA) doesn't like the sound of "retreat". They... more

hollowman218
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4 months ago
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Evolutionary theorists question whether there's an adaptive purpose to dreaming.

Dreaming of Nonsense: The Evolutionary Enigma of Dream Content Why do we Dream?... more

Hou_Kairs
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5 months ago
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BBC/OU Annual Lecture 2009: Dawkins on Darwin

Professor Richard Dawkins delivered this year's Open University lecture at the Natural... more

unimatrix0
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5 months ago
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Darwin Plays Game Theory—and Wins

A computer simulation predicts that ravens should have evolved a behavior called "gang... more

SoundBigfoot
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6 months ago
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Ruth Padel Elected the First Female Oxford Professor of Poetry

"A descendant of Charles Darwin became the new professor of poetry at Oxford... more

St_Alia_10191
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6 months ago
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Isn't it time to make peace with Darwin?

"It is an anniversary that not many evangelicals will be celebrating: 150 years since the publication of Darwin's Origin of Species. The hostility is understandable given the widespread assumption that neo-Darwinian evolution is little more than atheism for biologists. This assumption leads to many Christian youth being sheltered from the undisputed, reigning theoretical framework of the biological sciences. It also leads them to read the Genesis creation narrative in a literalistic fashion as if they were reading an article on cosmology in Nature magazine rather than an ancient near eastern cosmogonic-theological poetic narrative. (Sadly, in their fervor to respect the Bible's authority, they undermine it in the same way that the Catholic Church undermined scripture in its dispute with Galileo.) The result is a suspicion of any Christian who would countenance divinely-guided evolution as broaching an unacceptable compromise with liberalism, secularism, methodological naturalism, atheism ... pick your poison.

These young Christians are thus unaware of the large number of Christian evolutionary biologists back to the great Theodosius Dobzhansky, and indeed all the way back to Asa Gray, a contemporary of Darwin and America's leading botanist of the 19th century. They are often unaware that the Catholic Church embraces evolution, as do leading evangelical scientists like Francis Collins and Denis Lamoureux. Not surprisingly, they also remain unaware that most of those theologians laboring in the theology/science dialogue made peace with Darwin long ago (Alister McGrath, John Polkinghorne, R.J. Russell, Ted Peters, Arthur Peacocke, Ian Barbour and many many others besides).

Many of these young Christians will go off to university in the fall and encounter neo-Darwinism for the first time. They will discover that it is a theory that the vast majority of brilliant, highly educated scientists consider essential to make sense of the natural world. And many of those scientists, familiar only with the same warfare model of Christianity and evolution, will simply reinforce the festering doubts of those students. By the time they come home for thanksgiving, many of these students will be harboring new doubts. Within a few years they will face a crisis of faith. And some will walk away from the church as a result. And the most tragic part is, it doesn't have to be this way."

A very interesting post from a Christian website- So, what are your feelings? Are you a Creationist Christian who rejects Darwin's theories, or have you been able to balance your spirituality with evolution? What mentality represents the majority of Americans?"It is an anniversary that not many evangelicals will be celebrating: 150 years since... more