The Church of England will concede in a statement that it was over-defensive and over-emotional in dismissing Darwin's ideas. It will call "anti-evolutionary fervour" an "indictment" on the Church".The bold move is certain to dismay sections of the Church that believe in creationism and regard Darwin's views as directly opposed to traditional Christian teaching.
The apology, which has been written by the Rev Dr Malcolm Brown, the Church's director of mission and public affairs, says that Christians, in their response to Darwin's theory of natural selection, repeated the mistakes they made in doubting Galileo's astronomy in the 17th century.
"The statement will read: Charles Darwin: 200 years from your birth, the Church of England owes you an apology for misunderstanding you and, by getting our first reaction wrong, encouraging others to misunderstand you still. We try to practise the old virtues of 'faith seeking understanding' and hope that makes some amends."
Opposition to evolutionary theories is still "a litmus test of faithfulness" for some Christian movements, the Church will admit. It will say that such attitudes owe much to a fear of perceived threats to Christianity.
Sadly many in the Christian church have consistently attempted to stall or completely stop scientific progress multiple times in our history, especially when it challenges their belief system.
The church also attempted to deny the significance of psychology and challenged the findings of Sigmund Freud. They also attacked the work of Galileo, as well as Copernicus, and of course Charles Darwin , whose scientific findings clearly angered and frightened the church which resulted in a number of responses ranging from argument, to character assassination, to the actual prosecution of Galileo Galilei.
But in these modern times continuing to deny the enlightenment that science brings while promoting the teaching of superstition in the place of real education should be labeled child abuse in my opinion. And those who insist on forestalling the intellectual growth of our young people should be kept at a distance so that their negative impact can be minimized.
And that is just what Sarah Palin and her church are promoting. The watering down of a science that may present a challenge to their belief system. And the proof of that is in quotes such as this: "Teach both. You know, don't be afraid of information....Healthy debate is so important and it's so valuable in our schools. I am a proponent of teaching both. And you know, I say this too as the daughter of a science teacher. Growing up with being so privileged and blessed to be given a lot of information on, on both sides of the subject -- creationism and evolution. It's been a healthy foundation for me. But don't be afraid of information and let kids debate both sides." Sarah Palin October 2006.
Of course the problem with this concept of "fairness" is that only ONE of these can be considered science. Evolution has been tested, and challenged, and tested again for two hundred years and has stood up to evaluation by the greatest scientific minds in history.
Creationism requires nothing more then faith. There is NO scientific data that favors it over evolution, and therefore it deserves no place in any of the classrooms that our children attend. And NOBODY who has any doubts about that should be allowed to shape policy in this great nation, for if they do our nation may not remain "great" for very much longer.
Update: Apparently not EVERYBODY in England got the memo.