[aculeus]

Would the Darwin Day parade feature monkey floats?

[Exnihilo]

'If you look at Africa, US fundamentalism, and the Muslim world, you realise evolution supporters are outnumbered by creationists. Yet these are people who have deliberately chosen to be ignorant. They are flat-Earthers without the sophistication. We need a Darwin Day to counter that ignorance.'

What can we do to counter such amazing arrogance?

[T'wit]

Yes, and I can see a band of marching amoebas from Primal Muck, N.J., so spiffy in their teensy red uniforms with gold stripes up their cilia.

[Exnihilo]

But seriously, what do I think about Dawkins and his materialist cohorts, and this godawful idea of "Darwin Day"??

[memetic]

Evolution thru fitness biased reproduction is one of THE most important scientific ideas of all time. And it doesn't just apply to the evolution of living things. a strong case can be made that cultural artifacts spread (and die out) the same way (ie Dawkins' "memes"), even business.

a truly wonderful introduction to the multifaceted power of the evolutionary idea can be found in Daniel Dennett's Darwin's Dangerous Idea

[Exnihilo]

boink

[thinktwice]

He disenfranchised God as our creator

Darwin's theory regarding the origin of the species conflicts with the biblical version of creation -- without commenting on God or conflicts with the Bible.

Think Copernicus -- the man that was excommunicated from the Catholic church because his theory abuut the earth not being the center of the universe conflicted with church teachings saying it was.

[PatrickHenry]

So that everyone will have access to the accumulated "Creationism vs. Evolution" threads which have previously appeared on FreeRepublic, plus links to hundreds of sites with a vast amount of information on this topic, here's Junior's massive work, available for all to review:
The Ultimate Creation vs. Evolution Resource [ver 14].

[ijcr]

Alfred Russel Wallace

Among Wallace's discoveries in the South Pacific was a breakthrough in biogeography: the Wallace Line, the recognition of distinctly different organisms living in close proximity to each other in similar environments. He made a similar breakthrough in understanding evolution. Weak with malaria, he one day had a flash of insight on how species change.

The result was his scientific paper "On the Tendency of Varieties to Depart Indefinitely from the Original Type." Although he didn't use the term "natural selection", he argued the same thing. Rather than send his paper directly to a publisher, Wallace instead sent the manuscript to Charles Darwin, with whom he had initiated a correspondence.

Upon seeing Wallace's paper, Darwin realized he was about to be scooped, and decided to end the 20-year delay in publishing his own theory. Wallace's paper and Darwin's various correspondence and notes on the subject were read at the same Linnean Society meeting, in London on July 1, 1858.

The next year, Darwin published On the Origin of Species. Although Wallace independently reached the same conclusion, it has usually been Darwin's name alone associated with the theory. Wallace expressed no resentment at receiving so little credit for his contribution. He remained a gracious man to the last, commenting late in life that his greatest achievement had been to prompt Darwin to publish his own theory.

Darwin, in turn, proved to be a good friend to Wallace, campaigning vigorously to secure him a government pension he desperately needed -- Wallace had no more skill managing money than his father.

Wallace held other interests besides biology, some of them controversial: land nationalization, a vehement opposition to vaccinations and a belief in spiritualism. In fact, other scientists tried to investigate spiritualism, but he lacked their skepticism. His belief may have been influenced by the untimely death of his eldest child; like many others, Wallace hoped to communicate with his lost loved one through a medium.

His belief in spiritualism caused Wallace to differ with Darwin on the origin of the human mind. Darwin saw humans as highly evolved organisms; Wallace believed that the human mind was inspired by something outside evolution, and that the human spirit could continue to progress after death.

[mafree]

..But now a campaign has been launched to establish an international day of celebration on 12 February: birthday of Charles Darwin,...

No one has said it yet, but Feb. 12 is the actual birthday of Lincoln too. Boy, what those two started...

[Celtjew Libertarian]

Demonstrating that even atheists have an urge to celebrate holidays.

[WalterSkinner]

does Darwin deserve a day?

He already has one -- April 1

[AlGone2001]

Darwin would impress me if he'd attend any such parade-only then.

If he's so great, why hasn't his body overcome the grave?

Oh wait, that gig has already been done.

[Jay W]

I think a better idea would be to restore George Washington's birthday as a national holiday.

Darwin has become an international joke, as typified by the amusing "Darwin Awards."

[DittoJed2]

Since holiday is supposed to be short for holy-day, I don't think it is appropriate for Darwin to have a holiday. Nevertheless, I believe Darwin already has a day. It is celebrated April 1st.
"The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God,..."- Psalm 53:1

[Gumlegs]

Would the Darwin Day parade feature monkey floats?

Two cups of milk, two scoops of monkey ...

[Petronski]

If there will be a Darwin day, it will develop spontaneously over a sufficiently long period of time. Such a thing should never be created. :)

[JediGirl]

bump for later

[JediGirl]

He was the originator of the most dangerous idea in history. He disenfranchised God as our creator and revealed the animal origins of humanity. Many believe his influence was pernicious and evil.

I guess people with no imagination have to blame evil on somebody. Sure, people have abused his theory and applied it to areas to which it had no business being applied, but that sounds more like a personal problem to me.

[jennyp]

This point was backed by biologist Steve Jones. 'If you look at Africa, US fundamentalism, and the Muslim world, you realise evolution supporters are outnumbered by creationists. Yet these are people who have deliberately chosen to be ignorant. They are flat-Earthers without the sophistication. We need a Darwin Day to counter that ignorance.'

Now that's interesting, I never really thought about Africa. I know about US creationists, of course, and Islam is officially creationist (even getting some of its Deep Thinking on the subject straight from the ICR!). But is Africa filled with creationists too?

[bert]

Perhaps a trailer load of Christians with their heads in the sand?