“Darwin Day” is planned as “a celebration of science and humanity.” It will be held on and around Feb. 12, the birthday of Charles Darwin in 1809. The marking of the 200th anniversary of this particular scientist’s birth is clearly a planned backlash against creationism. Years ago with some irony, Stephen Jay Gould, a leading evolutionist, pointed out that Darwin’s status is practically that of a secular saint. Nevertheless, we should examine the life of Darwin for things that we might learn.

A sensitive person

Charles Darwin was a sensitive person. He attempted the medical course at Edinburgh University but had to tell his father that he did not have the fortitude for it. He did not care for cadaver dissections. However, the tipping point came with the observation of two gory surgeries. In those days there was no anesthesia. We likely would have joined him in his feelings as he viewed the suffering of the patients.

His father, a physician, feared for Charles’ future. However, with approval, Charles then turned to the study of theology—not so much with thoughts of serving God but so that he might become a parson living as a respectable country gentleman. His strong interests in nature led him to establish friendships with the science professors. His theological education centered on “natural theology,” which attempted to show the goodness of God in how nature was constructed in spite of the trouble that people experienced.

A trip around the world

At graduation Darwin was offered the chance to be a companion to Captain FitzRoy on a five-year trip around the world. In 1831 he decided to take the trip on the HMS Beagle rather than accept an assignment to a parish.

When Darwin left, he apparently still had his faith. FitzRoy gave him a copy of a volume by leading geologist Charles Lyell that held Earth to be very old. There was an official naturalist on board, but Darwin slowly took over the man’s task, causing him to quit. Darwin gathered many specimens.

The story is usually told that he discovered “natural selection” when seeing the many different finches on the Galapagos Islands. But he did not actually put the theory together until after he returned. He could have published it by 1844, but something held him back. Perhaps he realized that he would be challenging the faith of many. He wrote to a close friend, J. D. Hooker, that stating that species are not immutable was like “confessing to a murder.”