General Assembly says happy birthday to Darwin

Members of the House of Delegates agreed by a voice vote Thursday to pass a resolution commemorating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, an English naturalist who is best known for his theory of evolution by natural selection.

The joint resolution, H.J. 884, recognizes the world-wide celebration of Darwin Day and “the extraordinary life and discoveries of Charles Darwin and celebrates the enormous benefits that scientific knowledge, acquired through human curiosity and ingenuity, has contributed to the advancement of humanity,” according to its text.

The House vote coincided with the 200th birth date of America’s 16th president, Abraham Lincoln. Darwin lived Feb. 12, 1809, through April 19, 1882; Lincoln was born the same day but died on April 15, 1865.

“Darwin is the father of modern biology and can hardly be considered divisive,” said Del. David Englin, D-Dist. 45, which includes Alexandria, explaining his sponsorship of the resolution. “The Virginia General Assembly supports science and Darwin is universally acknowledged by the scientific community as the founder of biology.”

Englin said the controversies over Darwin’s theories — which include evolutionary views from his books, “On the Origin of Species” in 1859 and “The Descent of Man” in 1871, suggesting humans came into existence via a process of natural selection and not solely as God’s creation — were put to rest years ago. He also said commendations were generally approved as a matter of courtesy to the sponsors, and that he would not have second thoughts about supporting one for, say, Gen. Robert E. Lee, though some in the commonwealth might find that historical figure controversial.

“In the scientific community,” he said, “there is no dispute about evolution … and even the Catholic Church and the Anglican Church have been reconciled with Darwinism. The churches both have issued official statements essentially apologizing for their treatment of Darwin and acknowledging there’s no [discord] between science and the church.”

In mid-2008, the Vatican and the Church of England did state to varying degrees that evolution was a valid theory that could be taught in conjunction with biblical creationism. But the Catholic Church fell shy of outright apologizing for its dismissal of Darwin’s theories for the past 150 years.

Meanwhile, the Rev. Dr. Malcolm Brown for the Archbishop’s Council wrote on the Church of England’s Web site: “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.”

But the scientific community is not 100 percent on board with Darwin’s findings and theories — and individual Anglican churches maintain views that are distinct from their leadership, too.

Roughly 700 scientists from around the world have signed an Internet list that expresses doubt with Darwinism.

“We are skeptical of claims for the ability of random mutation and natural selection to account for the complexity of life,” reads a Discovery Institute’s letter, which was updated to reflect the latest signatories in August of 2008. “Careful examination of the evidence for Darwinian theory should be encouraged.”

At the same time, the authors of this brief essay continue, Darwin “had no interest in undermining religious views of creation by a creator, but a number of his interpreters, then and now, denigrated religious views of the creation.”

Of the five delegates who represent portions of Prince William County, only one returned a phone call in time for deadline.

“There’s nothing divisive about the resolution,” said Del. Jackson Miller, R-Dist. 50, indicating his support for the measure. “It doesn’t talk about his theories being true. It just says he was a great scientist, and I don’t see where anybody would get bent out of shape about it.”

Personally, Jackson said he “believed in a lot of stuff [Darwin] came up with, but not all of it.”

Dels. Scott Lingamfelter, R-Dist. 31; Jeff Frederick, R-Dist. 52; Paul Nichols, D-Dist. 51; and Bob Marshall, R-Dist. 13, could not be reached to gauge their support. The vote was taken by voice only; while Miller said he did not know of any in the House who went against the measure, Englin said he heard plenty of dissent coming from Republicans on the floor.

“That says a lot about how much they support science,” he joked.

Staff writer Cheryl Chumley can be reached at 703-670-1907.