Why did Darwin wait so long?
As every good historian knows, sometimes the truth is more mundane than we often imagine. John van Wyhe, from Charles Darwin's alma mater, Cambridge University, provides another example of this, as reported in today's .
The myth: Darwin delayed publication of the for two decades, until 1859, because he was nervous about the likely reaction of church authorities and professional colleagues to the theory of evolution by natural selection (a theory he first developed in 1839).
The truth: Darwin didn't complete work on the Origin of Species for two decades because he was snowed under with other writing projects.
Comments
Well you learn something new every day!
If anyone is interested in Richard Dawkins POSCASTS click Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion in discussion with Professor Alister McGrath, Professor of Historical Theology at Oxford Univ, chaired by Joan Bakewell
I listened to them earlier on today and thought that it was a brilliant debate-very cordial, illuminating, stimulating and of course dawkins won ;-)
Why would anyone make an issue out of such an inconsequential discrepancy? Frankly, if I was proposing the theory of evolution when Darwin did, I may be a little scared of the church myself! As Will points out, the truth is that it was delayed for another reason, but I don't understand why it would matter if it wasn't.
McGrath is an pathetic champion for belief in a god and even I as an atheist could put up better case against Dawkins.
Perhaps he'll perform better in Pt 2.
Anyone interested in the Evolution-Creation controversy should take a look at the findings of a survey carried out by the Belfast Humanist Group in the city centre.
The results of the survey are listed at
There are also a few brief video interviews with some of the people who answered the survey questions.
The ideas of Darwin are beginning to be accepted in N Ireland, judging by the findings of the Belfast Humanist Group.