by Charles Darwin is the founder of the way we look at evolution today. His work in looking at evolution and descent with modification of species such as finches has led to the theories of how homo sapiens today have come from their primate ancestors. Darwin has also challenged the creationist theory that men were created by a higher power and rather that we today are simply products of evolution. But Darwin was never met with persecution from society for his blasphemous ideas like earlier scientist of the 17th century Galileo. Darwin changed the way we view creationism, but society did not persecute him, as the society in the 19th century had developed into one where religion and science were no longer strongly linked.
Many of the early scientists such as Galileo were persecuted for their religious beliefs as God and religion were seen as entities that could not be challenged. Galileo was met by heavy opposition from the Catholic Church for his idea of heliocentrism, the principle that the Sun was the center of the universe. The Church heavily disagreed with Galileo’s claim as it went against a fundamental belief of the Holy Scripture that the Earth was rather the center of the Universe. Galileo was then forced to live the rest of his life under house arrest. Galileo demonstrates the persecution that scientists underwent if they challenged the religious beliefs of their time. Darwin’s advances in science, rather show that the society at the time was ready to embrace the most fundamental belief in all Abrahamic religions that God created man.
The society that Darwin lived in and that has continued to the present day is a world in which we do not see science and religion tied together, and are rather separate entities that work in parallel. Darwin’s findings and his theory of natural selection and selective breeding was the framework for which evolutionary theory was founded in. Yet, despite making such bold claims, Darwin was met with little challenge from the Church of England, in great contrast to Galileo who was arrested for his scientific findings (1). The contrasts between Galileo, a scientist of the 17th century versus Darwin, a scientist of the 19th century demonstrate a large shift in the intersection of religion and science.
Further development of science in society does not mean a shift from our religious views. As science continues to develop and even challenges more of the beliefs of religion this does not create an uprising from churches or greater society, but rather we see the development of science and religion to be two separate, independent identities. One can still be religious while also being a scientist. Pope Francis was even quoted saying that “Evolution … is not inconsistent with the notion of creation” (2). We also must realize that the Theory of Evolution is not something that can be definitively proven it remains a theory. Our society today recognizes the development of science, but this does not mean that it must directly challenge religion. We have gone past the times where religion and science had to agree with each other and rather recognize that science and religion can be independent of each other.
Source 1: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/galileo/
Source 2: https://www.ncronline.org/news/vatican/pope-francis-evolution-not-inconsistent-notion-creation
Source 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KVupdK_pBU&ab_channel=OnDemandNews
Image 1: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/10/28/pope-francis-evolution-big-bang/18053509/