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The article also discusses the scientist John Tyndall, who with others in the British Advancement for the Society of Scientists, strongly supported Darwin. If it is admitted that matter has power attributed to it, where did it get that power? There can only be one answer, or the existence of a Devine Being. Similarly, if it is assumed that matter has developed into form and life, it regulates its procedure through by following certain determined laws. Where did these laws come from, if not from the Devine Being? In fact, doesn't the theory of natural selection actually give God greater credence and power, since he purposely arranged the atoms to develop one life form into another? The theory of evolution is just about how one form of life evolves into another over time. It does not address how life came about in the first place or what led to its natural selection.
This year, a number of clergy have addressed Darwin in their sermons due to the 200th anniversary. Many of them spoke of the same thing: that Darwin's theory and belief in God can both be accepted. Clergy who now believe in evolution say that they are not discarding the story of Adam and Eve in the Bible. Instead they are combining the different theories to help today's faithful resolve their modern thinking with their biblical beliefs. God should be given a great deal more credit and benefit of the doubt that his power can include the theory of evolution. In other words, many theologians are now saying that it is not fair that people have to choose between science and religion. That it is possible to believe in what science and technology can bring to the world and still have strong faith in a higher power. A high number of individuals do feel that animals at all levels have evolved into humans under the guidance of God.
In the 1874 New York Times article the author wrote something that has definitely come true: This issue...
Admittedly, there are some arguments that can easily be answered over time. As science advances, answers will be found to support or negate a theory. However, he concedes that "But theories concerning the origin of man are not one of those" that can easily be resolved. "Evidence may be gathered in favor of one or another of them, or even of all, but we cannot hope that the final great question shall be ever solved. We can only deal with hypotheses as they arise before us in the growing light of science, and estimate their probable approach to veracity by accumulated knowledge and inductive reasoning. Beyond this we cannot go."
One clergyman is a recent sermon said it best in his discussions about Darwin: With all the many different concerns and issues that people have today, why make this one of them? Even Darwin, who at his worst was an agnostic when he was older, said that it is clearly possible to believe about natural selection and God at the same time. During Darwin's times there were some religious leaders who argued against his theory of natural selection. Yet, overall in these several articles read from that period, it seems that there is more controversy about it today than there was 150 years ago. If people truly see the beauty of life, they can bless God for how it has evolved from the earliest of times.
References
Butt, Riazat. 1, February 2009. Half of Britons do not believe in evolution, survey finds. U.K. Guardian.Science section. 7, March, 2009. http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/feb/01/evolution-darwin-survey-creationism
English Church Quarterly, July 1882 "Charles Darwin and Evolution" and "The Province of Skepticism and the Limits of Free Thought."
New York Times September 5, 1874. Front Page. Origin of Man: Nature of the Discussion Creation or Evolution. Questions Suggested-Distinction.
