Strangely enough, Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln were born on the exact same day, February 9, 1809. Thus, February 2009 marked the 200-year anniversary of the birth of both men. Lincoln is celebrated as one of the greatest, if not THE greatest President of the United States, by virtually all Americans, regardless of political persuasion, wealth, or background.

However, 2009 is not the year of Lincoln; it is the year of Darwin. Numerous websites are dedicated to the 200-year anniversary of Darwin’s birth, including one where you can even post a happy birthday message and comment to Charles!  The year 2009 also marks the 150-year anniversary of Darwin’s book On the Origin of Species, where the Theory of Evolution is laid out. Admittedly there are a few 200-year Lincoln anniversary sites, but the news and web media have primarily latched onto the Darwin bandwagon. Newspapers and magazines drop references to Darwin and his work as much as possible, particularly in the science media. People were called to participate in “a global celebration of science and reason held on or around Feb. 12, the birthday anniversary of evolutionary biologist Charles Darwin.”

The lives of Darwin and Lincoln have some other similarities in addition to their birth date:

• Darwin’s mother died when he was eight years old, and Lincoln’s mother died when he was nine years old.
   

• All but one of Lincoln’s children died in the childhood or in their teen years. The Darwin’s had ten children, two of which died in infancy. The death of his daughter, Annie, at age ten was particularly devastating to Darwin.
   

• Both Lincoln and Darwin had some difficulty in settling on what occupation they would pursue. For a period of time, Darwin studied to become an Anglican parson, though he was primarily interested in the study of biology. Lincoln had very little formal education, but he eventually became a prairie lawyer and then became interested in politics.
   

• Lincoln appeared to believe in God but never formally joined a church or professed a specific belief in Jesus Christ as Lord. Darwin appeared to initially believe in God and he participated in some religious studies, but he became more distant from God as his life progressed and he focused on evolution as a science. Contrary to popular belief, Darwin’s family contends that he never made a deathbed profession of faith, and that he never renounced evolution.

In spite of these similarities, Lincoln and Darwin were worlds apart in their beliefs and accomplishments in life. Lincoln fought for the equality of different human races in the United States, the abolishment of slavery, and that all men should be paid for their work. Lincoln eventually wrote that all men are created equal and should be treated equally before the law and God.

Darwin was not concerned about equality of races, but instead he referred to non-Caucasian people groups such as Africans and Australian aborigines as “savages” and “barbarians” in his writings, and he believed that they were inferior by nature to the “civilized race”. The full, unabridged name of On the Origin of Species is actually On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. The unabridged title really gets to the meat of what Darwin believed, but is very politically incorrect, thus the abridged title is used by the media.

A later work by Darwin, Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex, published in 1871, is widely available in full text online.  This work is very disturbing to read, and is highly racist in a matter-of-fact way. This book is almost never mentioned by the media, but its proposal of inequality of races as "natural" by Darwin shows us the exact path that the belief in evolution will lead us down in society. Darwin’s comments are divisive, not unifying.  Consider this concluding passage from Descent of Man (Chapter XXI, pages 919-920), where Darwin ruminates that he would have rather descended from monkeys or baboons than the “savages” he encountered on the island Tierra del Fuego:

"The main conclusion arrived at in this work, namely, that man is descended from some lowly organized form, will, I regret to think, be highly distasteful to many. But there can hardly be a doubt that we are descended from barbarians. The astonishment which I felt on first seeing a party of Fuegians on a wild and broken shore will never be forgotten by me, for the reflection at once rushed into my mind--such were our ancestors. These men were absolutely naked and bedaubed with paint, their long hair was tangled, their mouths frothed with excitement, and their expression was wild, startled, and distrustful. They possessed hardly any arts, and like wild animals lived on what they could catch; they had no government, and were merciless to everyone not of their own small tribe. He who has seen a savage in his native land will not feel much shame, if forced to acknowledge that the blood of some more humble creature flows in his veins. For my own part I would as soon be descended from that heroic little monkey who braved his dreaded enemy in order to save the life of his keeper, or from that old baboon, who descending from the mountains, carried away in triumph his young comrade from a crowd of astonished dogs--as from a savage who delights to torture his enemies, offers up bloody sacrifices, practices infanticide without remorse, treats his wives like slaves, knows no decency, and is haunted by the grossest superstitions…

Man still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin."
 

Another passage from Descent of Man (Chapter V) discusses how it is potentially injurious to the human race to treat the sick, perform vaccinations against diseases, provide care for the needy, etc.  Again, certain people groups are referred to as "savages":

"With savages, the weak in body or mind are soon eliminated; and those that survive commonly exhibit a vigorous state of health. We civilized men, on the other hand, do our utmost to check the process of elimination; we build asylums for the imbecile, the maimed, and the sick; we institute poor-laws; and our medical men exert their utmost skill to save the life of every one to the last moment. There is reason to believe that vaccination has preserved thousands, who from a weak constitution would formerly have succumbed to small-pox. Thus the weak members of civilized societies propagate their kind. No one who has attended to the breeding of domestic animals will doubt that this must be highly injurious to the race of man. It is surprising how soon a want of care, or care wrongly directed, leads to the degeneration of a domestic race; but excepting in the case of man himself, hardly any one is so ignorant as to allow his worst animals to breed."

The Dark Legacy of Darwin

So with this dark legacy, why is Darwin celebrated? Essentially, men are able to overlook the ugliness of Darwin’s works because they offer an alternative to God – that man evolved randomly through natural events over millions of years rather than as a divine act of God. With Darwin and evolution, man does not need God as Creator. With a few exceptions, the scientific community accepts the Theory of Evolution as fact, even though there is virtually no evidence aside from pure conjecture that evolution has occurred in the past or that it is occurring now in the present. On a microscopic level, it is impossible to account for the development of complex biochemical pathways, or of the genetic code of DNA and RNA, which are present in even the simplest one-celled organisms. There are no intermediate life forms, or “missing links”, found in the fossil record, while the theory of evolution demands that there must be innumerable missing links to account for the evolution of new species through natural selection. Whatever intermediate life forms that have been proposed in the fossil record have been found to be false or fraudulent. Belief in Darwin and evolution is a belief that man is just a random act of nature, another insignificant cog in the wheel of life with no eternal importance.


Hope Lives in Jesus Christ

Belief in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior offers another way – and the only way to God.

Belief in Jesus is belief in love.

Belief in Jesus gives eternal life.

With Jesus there is only one race, the human race.

Paul wrote in Galatians 3:26-28, “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”  It was quite radical in Jesus’ day to consider such an encompassing equality – equality across genders, ethnic groups, races, slaves and owners. Unfortunately, it is still radical today to consider such a level of equality, i.e. Darwin.

Jesus said in Matthew 11:28-29, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Note that Jesus says, “Come to me, all …” not “Come to me you civilized, wealthy, healthy, and sin-free beautiful people.” All are welcome in the kingdom of God.

Use the year 2009, and every year, not to celebrate darkness, but to celebrate Jesus!