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"What kind of God can one infer from the sort of phenomena epitomized by the species on Darwin's Galapagos Islands?" philosopher of science David Hull asked in a 1991 essay in the journal Nature. "The evolutionary process is rife with happenstance, contingency, incredible waste, death, pain and horror," he noted. Citing the findings of Galapagos finches researchers Peter and Rosemary Grant as prime evidence against any but a sado-masochist's natural theology, Hull protested. "The God of the Galapagos is careless, wasteful, indifferent, almost diabolical."

http://www.metanexus.net/magazine/ArticleDetail/tabid/68/id/4225/Default.aspx

Ideas have consequences. For a theist, what one believes about evolution says something about what you believe about the character and nature of God. Sure, evolution is compatible with 'religion' because it is _foundational_ to most of the world's (man-made) religions. But that doesn't make it nice, or true. That's why its defenders are so, hmm, emotional - because it is their foundational religious beliefs that are threatened by science.

Anyone who thinks Darwin was a "Poster child for the religion of humanism" is him/herself a poster child for brick-wall mentality. No mention of Alfred Russell Wallace, I notice. Remember him?

"Survival of the fittest" was a snappy way of encapsulating the observed phenomenon pioneered by such naturalists as Wallace and Darwin of animals adapting to environmental changes through natural selection in offspring resulting in overall survival of the lifeform.

Pride-blinded brick-wall people whose faith in God and Jesus is weak have stupidly and willfully misinterpreted it to mean "Ruthlessness is the key to survival," which of course goes against Judeo-Christian teachings.

Adapt or perish -- it holds true on both our worldly plane and our spiritual plane. The natural world is dog-eat-dog -- animals that adapt survive and those that don't, perish. Our spiritual world, even as revealed in the Bible, is equally dog-eat-dog; God in His Wisdom has given us a handbook and instruction manual of how we humans, made in His image, can adapt in our behaviors to survive both spiritually and physically under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. Civilizations that defy God's laws perish. Those that adapt to them, survive. The bible lays down laws that will ensure human survival and thriving anyplace, anytime.

God is everywhere, and His love is key. Civilizations perish when they become ruthless; those who equate "adapt or perish" with "you must be ruthless to survive" are dunderheaded idiots of weak insight and weaker confidence in God's wisdom.