Church of England: "Sorry, Darwin!"

[Sionnach Glic]

THE Church of England will make an official apology to naturalist Charles Darwin for criticising his famous theory of evolution

Coming 126 years after his death, the church's apology will focus on how wrong it was for senior bishops in the past to misunderstand and attack Darwin's theory about man being descended from apes.

Senior church officials will post the apology in the form of an article written by the Reverend Dr Malcolm Brown on the church's website tomorrow.

"Charles Darwin, 200 years from your birth (in 1809), the Church of England owes you an apology for misunderstanding you and, by getting our first reaction wrong, encouraging others to misunderstand you still,'' the article says, according to extracts printed by The Mail on Sunday newspaper.

"But the struggle for your reputation is not over yet, and the problem is not just your religious opponents but those who falsely claim you in support of their own interests.''

But the apology by Dr Brown, who is the director of mission and public affairs of the Archbishops' Council, has been dismissed as "pointless'' by Darwin's great great grandson Andrew Darwin.

"Why bother? he said.

"When an apology is made after 200 years, it's not so much to right a wrong, but to make the person or organisation making the apology feel better.''

But Dr Brown says everyone makes mistakes, the church included.

"When a big new idea emerges that changes the way people look at the world, it's easy to feel that every old idea, every certainty, is under attack and then to do battle against the new insights,'' he writes.

"The church made that mistake with Galileo's astronomy and has since realised its error.

"Some Church people did it again in the 1860s with Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection.

"So it is important to think again about Darwin's impact on religious thinking, then and now.''

Dr Brown said there was nothing incompatible between Darwin's scientific theories and Christian teaching.

[Mikey]

Good - nice to see a dogmatic organization making an admission of error, and seeing the lack of conflict that necessarily exists between faith and evolutionism (which I've espoused since I've been here.)

Bad - no, really, take your time, archbishop.

[Teaos]

Pfft everyone knows the Earth is only 6000 years old and Jesus rode a Dinosaure...

[Nutso]

Does this mean Evolution is going to become religious doctrine?

"And yea to forth, God made the ape
who begat the chimp, who begat Adam
who begat Lilith. She was a bitch,
so Adam kicked her out and begat Eve."

[Nickswitz]

Until recently I hadn't heard of Lilith.

[stitch626]

Lilith

[Nickswitz]

According to some it was like the first wife of adam and then was like seduced by the devil or some such and became a demon and then God created Eve because Lilith was unworthy. Correct me someone if I'm wrong I don't believe it at all. I just heard it.

[stitch626]

Right...

[Nickswitz]

Apparently to some people it makes sense.

[Nutso]

According to some it was like the first wife of adam and then was like seduced by the devil or some such and became a demon and then God created Eve because Lilith was unworthy. Correct me someone if I'm wrong I don't believe it at all. I just heard it.

I just heard about it 10 years ago. Never bothered to research the story. It was odd to think that Adam got a divorce.

[Enkidu]

According to medieval Jewish mysticism, she was the rebellious first wife of Adam, created at the same time. There is a long (and I mean long) tradition of female demons, often associated with predatory sex,and man eating in both senses of the word, called Lilith or something similar, in various middle eastern mythologies. Basically, the type of girl your mother warned you about. But from Hell. Literally.
I think she has gained more prominence nowadays with the Anne Rice loving vampire sex pervert brigade, as a kind of queen of the Succubi/vampires type thing.

[Mikey]

That's about it. In Eastern European Jewish folklore, a mezuzah on the door posts of the house helps protect agaisnt Lilith, as she is considered dangerous to pregnant women.

[Teaos]

I've read some good Novels centring around her.