Charles Darwin

It was the biggest scientific "challenge" in the history of mankind. It was the first, and pretty much last big idea which dramatically shifted what we had already come to understand in the Bible. Darwin took that idea within the pages of the greatest book ever written, turned it up on it's head and threw it against a wall to see if it would stick, and, for many of us, it did. It shifted ideas and theories not just about where we came from but what drove us. Suddenly we were to question not just our own book, but the subject of that book - God. So, in turn, Charles Darwin was given the extreme title of Father of Atheism, yet was he really, or did he believe in the Holy Spirit just as much as millions of Christians all over the world? In the meantime, as we ponder yet again over the great questions of our time on this Earth, we can expect much of the English speaking world to be celebrating this revolutionary time in much intellectual style. Since it is also 200 years since Darwin was born, we can take advantage of running through our minds the thoughts of this man who was in every time and not just his own - a genius. It will be a time over the next twelve months to shun God, wear much black, think heavily about other divine figures and what they really mean and question many faiths which have graced our world with their presence, prayer and diet. In most of the western world, there will be no better themes for parties than dressing up as a Greek thinker or a English painter and impersonating anyone who dared challenge the Holy Book. We can expect to point the dominant finger at bishops, nuns and other entities who have spurred fear, despise and any other life altering emotions which have lead to millions not being able to enjoy Ingmar Bergman films. If it is worshipped, then it's game - reasons to be cheerful? Only if you are a devout atheist. It will be, in many a middle class home, a chorus of "Happy Birthday to Reason" until Christmas... Okay, so hang on a minute, before we get carried away with burning the good book and renovating the nearest church in the name of the Ape. Surely we can take a closer look here at a man, who, behind the beard and the wrinkly frown, was, indeed and for much of his life, battling against his own reasons and his own inner God. John Hedley once said of Darwin as "being the man who refused to be pigeon-holed," yet this also was a man who, in his own mind, respected God for the entity he was/is and being who cannot be proved either way. Surely that is a reflection of a human being simply being faithful to God to the best of his ability - as we all are - we try to be the best being we possibly can and be good to each other as much as we can - surely that is actually showing faithfulness to our own inner God? Many atheists look toward Darwin as their inspiration - the man who gave them reason to doubt, or at least, that's what most of us thought that Darwin was about, so if we look up to Charles Darwin, do we not then see him as our "father" the same way as Christians see God as their father? It all sounds a little far fetched now and possibly, I am daring to tread a fine line between ridicule and reason, yet to pinpoint one particular thought and idea with such a complicated man as Darwin perhaps is merely enveloping a man full of wisdom and knowledge as merely being paper thin. Yet this was a person who simply gave us food for thought. He expressed his ideas as being somewhere in between. He looked at both religion and reason - or what is divine and what is possible. Both attitudes are both possible - he just gave us something to talk about.