“If the misery of the poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin.” -- English biologist and naturalist Charles Darwin, in his "Voyage of the Beagle," 1839. His "Origin of Species" published twenty years later established the foundation of evolutionary biology, and challenged religion's teachings about creation as expressed in the Bible. That confrontation exists today between conservative Christian organizations and the scientific community. Darwin's theory of evolution was a clear and scientifically sound explanation of how we -- and all life -- got to our current condition. So respected was Darwin's work that, upon his death in 1882, he was buried in Westminster Abbey.
With that, we wish you a happy International Darwin Day.
(photo: Natural History Museum, London)
