Professor A. Wagners
SCIE 200
Assignment 4-1
Position Paper 4
Can a person believe in both, Darwinism and religion, at the same time? “We can do so only if we do not confuse evolutionary biology with a natural science and atheistic materialism,” (Junghyung, 2011). Darwin’s Theory of Evolution has been a widespread topic of disagreement for many decades. When his theory was first introduced in the mid 1800s there was controversy between religion and science. At the time Darwin’s theory was mainstreamed most Europeans were still firm in their belief of religion and that the earth was created in seven days by a divine being as described in the bible. “Darwin worked on his theory for 20 years. After learning that another naturalist, Alfred Russel Wallace, had developed similar ideas, the two made a joint announcement of their discovery in 1858. In 1859 Darwin published 'On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection',” (bbc.co.uk).
“The book was extremely controversial, because the logical extension of Darwin's theory was that homo sapiens was simply another form of animal. It made it seem possible that even people might just have evolved - quite possibly from apes - and destroyed the prevailing orthodoxy on how the world was created. Darwin was vehemently attacked, particularly by the Church. However, his ideas soon gained currency and have become the new orthodoxy,” (bbc.co.uk). Darwin’s theory that everything indeed evolved from something else was unwanted in many schools for many years- people wanted to believe in religion and a divine being not in logic and science. “Darwin's Theory of Evolution is the widely held understanding that all life is related and has descended from a common ancestor: the birds and the bananas, the fishes and the flowers -- all related,” (allaboutsicence.com). His theory first
