CHARLES DARWIN (1809 - 1882)
POLITICS ::: EVOLUTION :::
1859 was an exciting time. It was time of discovery. The race was on to quench the thirst for modern convenience with great technological breakthroughs that would have profound effects on man's everyday life. Some of our greatest thinkers were at the forefront of these scientific findings and found it nearly impossible to separate logic from their devout beliefs for if Evolution is indeed a fact then the literal interpretation of the Bible is thrown into question.
Darwin, while on his way to a life as a clergyman, encountered a strange turn of events that put him on course to be attacked by the very same institution that he revered. It was the God fearing masses that felt his findings were a direct attack on the Book of Genesis and the six days it took God to make man in his image. Only Free Thinkers, French Atheists and Materialists could dabble in such blasphemy.
As man pick-axed his way across continents to make way for railroads and to create foundations for new cities, thirty-million-year-old secrets were unearthed and it was learned that giant creatures roamed the Earth and the bones of manlike creatures traced human life to a time long before what the Bible teaches us.
From his days on the ship HMS Beagle - which provided his transportation to Galapagos - and his continued travels to South America where he witnessed first-hand the horrors of slavery; to the death of his beloved daughter Annie, his life quest was to find a fair and loving God.
Every time the controversy seems to die down, a whirlwind event seems to put Darwin back in the crosshairs: The 1925 Scopes Trials, The Cold War race to space and the never ending battle of what should and should not be taught in classrooms throughout the world.
Darwin rests today at Westminster Abbey, one of England's holiest landmarks.
