Methodist Church welcomes celebration of Darwin Day

The Methodist Church has welcomed a day of celebration dedicatedto the achievements of scientist Charles Darwin during the yearmarking his 200th birthday and 150-year-old theory ofevolution.

Methodists praised Darwin's ground-breaking work on the theory ofevolution, On the Origin of Species, which sparked a scientificresearch programme that has continued to this day.

The Revd Dr Philip Luscombe is Principal of Wesley House,Cambridge, and President of the Cambridge Theological Federationwhere he teaches Systematic Theology, Preaching and Religion andScience.

He said: "Christians believe that God created the world. CharlesDarwin gave the first successful scientific account of oneimportant part of God's creation: how life developed from thesimplest of forms into the extraordinary variety that we see aroundus. In doing so, Darwin ruled out some of the ways in which manyhad assumed that God worked. But as he himself was clear, nothingthat he wrote affected the majesty of God in creation.

"An early Christian commentator on Darwin's work wrote that,'Darwinism appeared, and, under the guise of a foe, did the work ofa friend.' Darwin cleared away many misconceptions and helped ustowards a better understanding of the truth."

Philip, whose major research interest is the relationship betweenscience and theology, said that Darwin's thesis demonstrated thepower of the theory of evolution through natural selection.

"The human genome project is only the latest example of researchwhich is ultimately inspired by Darwin," he added. "All modernbiological science relies on the foundation Darwin provided."

"We join in celebrating the life and work of Darwin because hehelped us all to see better the intricacy of God's creation, andforced us to wrestle once more with the eternal problems of goodand evil."

The Revd Jenny Ellis, Spirituality and Discipleship Officer, said:"Darwin's scientific theory of the mechanics of creation frees usto appreciate the 'faith' truth of the Biblical stories and theprecious value and giftedness of God-inspired creation. The storiesconvey the sense of the wonder and goodness of creation; of thecreative, divine Spirit who brings it into being and sustains it;of creation's deep inter-connectedness, its rhythm andbalance."