to atheists: why is Darwin such a Holy Cow?

Question

Few people seem to mind criticism of Einstein, Hawking, Sagan etc. but if you say Darwin made mistakes all pandemonium breaks out. Without saying a word against evolution can you say you totally agree with everything he wrote?

Answer 1

No human ever has been 100% right.

Even Darwin..

The big issue on him is how those who are anti Darwin continue to insist all of evolution is wrong.

Answer 2

Um...he's not...he got some stuff right, stuff wrong, just like all humans...yeah I can...that some things that he made was proved wrong by those who look for answers, so I guess that blows holes in your theory?

To Christians: Why is Jesus such a Holy Cow?
Few people see to mind the criticism of Einstein, Hawking, Sagan, etc. but when you say Jesus made mistakes, all pandemonium breaks out. Without saying a word against the Bible can you totally agree with everything he said?

Answer 3

Darwin was a learned christian man that was train as a preacher of his time making him a holy cow to those that like to use mind control to rule the masses. Many people besides Darwin held a belief that evolution was how live was made on this planet. Even Darwin's grandfather held the belief. Darwin was one of the first to have the verve and good sense to write the how of the planet and the live on it. It did take a lot of courage and now that all but two civilized countries in the world accept it as a good way to explain and teach biology It looks like Turkey and the United States would quit attacking the writings of Darwin with no facts to point out that Darwin wrote anything but Fact. It doe seem that the religious people do want to discredit Darwin but they would have to use logic facts and they have no facts to use so they just try to cause pandemonium to keep our society found learning the science to improve the world we live in using science

Answer 4

Darwin did make mistakes but he was spot on with most things.

His main failing was being unable to supply a theory of inheritance even though Mendel had it at the time.

The two were finally and fully integrated by the time Fisher wrote his classic 'the genetic theory of natural selection' (1930) which is one of the cornerstones of modern neo-darwinian theory, and yes 'the selfish gene' is in the same league nowadays...

I don't think you'll find many atheists getting as wound up as theists when you disagree with their 'figureheads' - the main difference is that science is not interested in argument from authority - a theist can come along and say Darwin renounced his views on his deathbed and became a christian (false but never mind) - the simple answer would be - 'so what?' We don't look up to Darwin because he was someone miraculous - he was RIGHT. That's all that matters. Newton's theories accurately describe how matter behaves on a large scale - who cares if he was a chauvinist and a bully? Love the science, not the scientist.

Answer 5

Perhaps it is because Darwin chose his life work to be based on tangible subjects. We can't touch a super-massive black hole, Einstein's theories are all just relative to where you stand in this whole mess of matter called the universe.

Darwin showed us what happens when birds have sex on a deserted island for many years. We can see the physical changes in different species (including ours) over the course of millions of years. We know that a woolly mammoth looks a hell of a lot like an Indian elephant and chances are, they are direct descendants.

My little brain, however, can not even begin to grasp what an event horizon would even look like due to the fact that it doesn't exist here on earth.

Do I agree with everything he wrote? I can't say I've agreed with everything anyone has ever written. I can say that I agree with Darwin a whole lot more than I agree with the bible.

Answer 6

Usually when the pandemonium breaks out is when Creationists continue to propagate outright lies about Darwin that have been debunked many, many times before (i.e. the one about Darwin recanting evolution on his deathbed).

Those who study evolution do not regard Darwin as some kind of infallible deity. There are many aspects of Darwin's original theory which have been discarded, modified, or clarified since its original publication.

Answer 7

I have not committed everything that Darwin wrote to memory, and no I don't mind criticism of Darwin and I assume that like every scientist or human he probably made a few mistakes.

Answer 8

"if you say Darwin made mistakes all pandemonium breaks out."

rubbish. darwin made mistakes (mostly through lack of good evidence, which we only know because we have that evidence today - so we should not judge too harshly). trouble is, creationists aren't satisfied to name the actual mistakes, they must invent new and more terrible mistakes. if a person cares about historical truth, they may become upset by this. it has nothing to do with worship of darwin.

Answer 9

Darwin's work is the underpinning of every biological and medical discipline today. Had he only read the letters he received from Gregor Mendel, he would have been onto genetics and we'd be farther ahead.

Most object to the lies about Darwin; his supposed deathbed conversion (false) and the assertion he was an atheist (false, his degree was in theology and he held off publishing his work out of fear of hurting people's feelings in Victorian society).

Answer 10

I've probably read more Darwin than most people who post here. A very great deal of what he wrote was wrong, and he revised The Origin over six editions, introducing more and more errors.

Natural Selection, however, is the single most important biological discovery in the history of science. It doesn't matter that he was wrong about things. He got the big one right.