“I can’t keep up; everything is moving too fast.” “Just as soon as I learn the answers, they change the questions.” “Man, hasn’t he aged; did you see that face?” “No, that can’t be; that’s not the way I remember it!” “I turned my back and then she was gone.” “Don’t blink; you’ll miss it.” “Where did this month go? It just got started.” “You can’t cheat Father Time.” “The only sure things are death and taxes.” “The only thing we know for sure is that things will change.” We all have this knowledge, commonly understood, that everything is always changing. Some things are changing slowly, but everything is changing throughout time. If you want to find something that is permanent, look in another universe.
In spite of this fairly surely held knowledge that everything keeps changing, we keep trying to make things stay the same. We don’t want things to change. We are uncomfortable with change. We like to set up a rut and stay in it. It takes less effort if we can just keep the same possessions, the same friends, the same power or influence, because then there is no need to adapt. This does not only apply to materials; it also applies to our beliefs, social structures, morals and ethics. If we believe a certain way, we try to get everyone else to believe the same way. If we have certain ethics, we believe everyone else should have the same ethics. If we have a certain type of government, we believe everyone else should have the same type of government. Efforts to establish a stable society are, to be sure, laudable. Proselytizing those beliefs, governments and mores on people who are not ready for them is not laudable. It is stupid. That leads to hatred and war. You don’t have to push it. As long as there are haves and have-nots, there will be conflict and change will occur all on its own amongst human populations. Further, the universe will keep evolving regardless of what we do.
The genius of Charles Darwin was to recognize the importance of multiple small changes over a long period of time. He did not look at time as being a period confined to the human experience. He looked at time as it applied to all of life over millions of years.It became absurdly apparent that if a change in any way favored greater survival of an organism, that particular change was more likely to be passed on to its offspring than a change that made survival less likely. All it took was plenty of time, and life evolved all on its own, gradually developing further complexity. It has had many starts and stops, sometimes even regressions, depending on outside circumstances. Yet over time, those changes that allowed an organism to adapt the best to its environment were those changes that remained, while others were abandoned or left static. Life evolved. It is still evolving. There is no personal God that has anything to do with it. There is no evidence that life has evolved in any other way than following the Laws of Chance.
Charles Darwin was keenly aware that the theory of natural evolution, if carried to its logical conclusion, completely contradicted the concept of a creator-God who continued to direct and intercede in human events, and who was accessible to humans. He was keenly aware that natural evolution, if fully accepted, made him at least an agnostic, if not an atheist. He chose not to trumpet his belief, in part out of respect for his wife, Emma, who remained a devout Christian. He didn’t want to raise domestic discord. He was frequently ill with what sounds like untreated gastric ulcer disease, and most of the time deeply dependent on Emma for his care. He was also afraid that if he made it clear that this was indeed what natural evolution meant, it would raise even more objection than he already had to face. He didn’t want to jeopardize any further the chance of his theory being fully accepted. As we see today, he was wise. He did go to church with Emma; but he kept his mouth firmly shut about the full religious manifestations of natural evolution. He left it up to the rest of us to make it clear that this universe runs purely on the Laws of Chance, and does not at any time have divine intervention.
Yes, Virginia, there is a God. It is all-powerful and all-pervasive, reaching to the farthest infinity of the universe and into the most minute piece of the universe. He, She, It completely controls everything that happens in this universe and everything that all life does, including you and me. The only important thing to realize is that He, She or It doesn’t give a rip about what happens to you. This God rewards those who adapt and punishes those who don’t. It’s nothing personal.
“If this hypothesis be true, then is the Bible an unbearable fiction…then have Christians for nearly two thousand years been duped by a monstrous lie…Darwin requires us to disbelieve the authoritative word of the Creator.”
– The American Episcopal Church
“If the Darwinian theory is true, Genesis is a lie, the whole framework of the book of life falls to pieces, and the revelation of God to man, as we Christians know it, is a delusion and a snare.”
– Christian Theologian
“These gentlemen were right. The theory of evolution does indeed contradict the biblical creation myths and the dogma of the Fall.”
– Barbara J Walker