{"id":424,"date":"2009-02-11T14:00:18","date_gmt":"2009-02-11T14:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/progressiverevival\/2009\/02\/darwin-at-200-may-science-and.html"},"modified":"2009-02-11T14:00:18","modified_gmt":"2009-02-11T14:00:18","slug":"darwin-at-200-may-science-and","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/02\/darwin-at-200-may-science-and.html","title":{"rendered":"Darwin at 200! May Science and Religion Kiss"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today is the 200th<\/sup> anniversary of Darwin’s birth–and this year is also the 150th<\/sup> anniversary of the publication of Darwin’s “On the Origin of the Species.” \u00a0<\/span>Even though Darwin’s discoveries are over a century old, they are still revolutionary to many people. The idea that random mutation and natural selection can explain the diversity of all living things, that we humans are part of a long evolutionary chain–to many, these are troubling ideas. As a Darwin critic once said, “I didn’t come from a monkey.”<\/p>\n

Polls show that over half of the American public rejects the theory of evolution. And lest we think that we as a nation are singularly ignorant about science, a British poll released last week revealed that half of the British population doesn’t believe in evolution either.<\/p>\n

This ignorance has serious consequences. In order for the US to be competitive in the global market, we need an educational system that teaches real science–not religion disguised as science. In order for us to be effective citizens, able to participate in decisions about scientific technologies that affect our lives, we need to be scientifically literate, and we need to connect our knowledge in an informed way to our moral and religious values.<\/p>\n

How do we do that? There are no quick or easy answers. But part of the answer lies in greater familiarity, understanding and respect between religion and science. At the Center for American Progress<\/a>, we’re doing our part by collaborating on projects with our religion and science policy teams. Yesterday we held an event with scientists, bio-ethicists and religious scholars to examine Darwin’s influence on science, religion and society.<\/p>\n

In addition, the National Academy of Sciences has a project that supports the compatibility of science and religion http:\/\/nationalacademies.org\/evolution\/ScienceAndReligion.html<\/a><\/p>\n

The United Church of Christ has created Not Mutually Exclusive that connects religion to science and technology. http:\/\/www.ucc.org\/not-mutually-exclusive\/<\/a><\/p>\n

And this weekend, the Clergy Letter Project is sponsoring its annual evolution weekend, with participation by nearly 950 congregations in all 50 states. http:\/\/www.butler.edu\/clergyproject\/rel_evol_sun.htm<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

These efforts are a good sign because the alleged incompability between religion and science is an over simplification and a distortion. The truth is that there is great diversity within both science and religion–neither is a monolithic entity. In fact, at their best, science and religion share many of the same traits and values. Honesty, openness, tolerance, curiosity–and yes, doubt.<\/p>\n

And just as science and religion are varied and complex, so are individual human beings. Within us all is a mixture of rationality and belief, skepticism and trust. We rely upon facts and evidence, but we also need mystery and transcendence.<\/p>\n

Given the many urgent issues facing the world, from global warming to pandemic disease, it is in our self interest to know each other–and while not papering over real differences, to search for areas of common ground. And then we need to roll up our sleeves and pitch in on the daunting work facing us all.<\/p>\n

Darwin once said… “In the long history of humankind…. those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.”<\/p>\n

To that, I say amen.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today is the 200th anniversary of Darwin’s birth–and this year is also the 150th anniversary of the publication of Darwin’s “On the Origin of the Species.” \u00a0Even though Darwin’s discoveries are over a century old, they are still revolutionary to many people. The idea that random mutation and natural selection can explain the diversity of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":172,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-election-08"],"yoast_head":"\nDarwin at 200! May Science and Religion Kiss - Progressive Revival<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/02\/darwin-at-200-may-science-and.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Darwin at 200! May Science and Religion Kiss - Progressive Revival\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Today is the 200th anniversary of Darwin’s birth–and this year is also the 150th anniversary of the publication of Darwin’s “On the Origin of the Species.” \u00a0Even though Darwin’s discoveries are over a century old, they are still revolutionary to many people. The idea that random mutation and natural selection can explain the diversity of…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/02\/darwin-at-200-may-science-and.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Progressive Revival\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-02-11T14:00:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sally Steenland\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Darwin at 200! May Science and Religion Kiss - Progressive Revival","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/02\/darwin-at-200-may-science-and.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Darwin at 200! May Science and Religion Kiss - Progressive Revival","og_description":"Today is the 200th anniversary of Darwin’s birth–and this year is also the 150th anniversary of the publication of Darwin’s “On the Origin of the Species.” \u00a0Even though Darwin’s discoveries are over a century old, they are still revolutionary to many people. The idea that random mutation and natural selection can explain the diversity of…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/02\/darwin-at-200-may-science-and.html","og_site_name":"Progressive Revival","article_published_time":"2009-02-11T14:00:18+00:00","author":"Sally Steenland","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/02\/darwin-at-200-may-science-and.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/02\/darwin-at-200-may-science-and.html","name":"Darwin at 200! May Science and Religion Kiss - Progressive Revival","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-02-11T14:00:18+00:00","dateModified":"2009-02-11T14:00:18+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/#\/schema\/person\/5d828b230ad04cb8b5450b643fb95eea"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/02\/darwin-at-200-may-science-and.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/02\/darwin-at-200-may-science-and.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/02\/darwin-at-200-may-science-and.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Darwin at 200! May Science and Religion Kiss"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/","name":"Progressive Revival","description":"Politics from the New Religious Progressives","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/#\/schema\/person\/5d828b230ad04cb8b5450b643fb95eea","name":"Sally Steenland","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/b4e\/b4e902177b200c550ee305de711d1f3ax96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/b4e\/b4e902177b200c550ee305de711d1f3ax96.jpg","caption":"Sally Steenland"},"description":"Sally Steenland is Senior Advisor to the Faith and Progressive Policy Initiative at American Progress. In 2005, she organized the Initiative\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153national conversations,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d a series of town-hall meetings and discussions across the country on pressing issues of faith and policy. She guides the Initiative\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s work on a variety of policy issues, including faith and science, the role of religion in the public square, diversity and tolerance, economics, the environment, and cultural and social matters. She also co-edited the Global Common Good, a collection of essays by policy experts and faith leaders that argues that U.S. foreign policy must go beyond preconceived notions of national self-interest and security by including our ethical obligations to the global community. In the 1990s, she was a frequent op-ed columnist for The Philadelphia Inquirer. In the 1980s, she was Deputy Director of the National Commission on Working Women, where she wrote major studies on women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s employment and women in the media and directed projects involving women in nonprofessional jobs. For several years she taught English, filmmaking and critical media studies in high schools. Steenland has written two best-selling books, The Magnetic Poetry Book and the award-winning Kids\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Magnetic Book of Poetry. Her short stories have appeared in many literary journals and anthologies, and her story collection, Skin and Bones, was a finalist in the 2004 Bakeless Literary Prize for fiction. Steenland was raised in a Dutch Calvinist community in northern New Jersey. She received a B.A. in English from Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan and a Masters in Education from Howard University.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/author\/sstreenland"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/172"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}