Last updated at 10:49, Monday, 08 March 2010

TO commemorate the bicentenary of Charles Darwin's birth reporter JO DAVIES looks at how the pioneering scientist's work remains a hot topic of discussion today, despite it being 200 years since he was born

ANNIVERSARY: Tomorrow sees the 200th anniversary of Darwin’s birth

IT is testament to the ongoing impact of Charles Darwin’s work that the debate over how to tackle alternative versions of the origin of the world is still waging on, some 150 years after he published The Origin Of Species.

But what exactly do creationists believe, why all the controversy and what actually is or should be discussed in the classroom?

The publication of The Origin of Species became an immediate success in the 1850s and revolutionised our understanding of how all life came about.

His theory that living things evolved by keeping the traits that helped them survive and losing the ones that didn’t has helped us understand the natural world.

Darwin’s theories are often presented as adversarial to Christian beliefs – that God created the universe and everything in it – but church leaders locally believe the two can sit alongside.

Father John Watson, of St Mary’s Church, in Duke Street, Barrow, notes that the Vatican accepts evolution.

He says: “The Roman Catholic Church’s position as articulated by Pope John Paul II is there’s no intrinsic contradiction in believing God is the creator, in Him setting in process the whole movement of creation of which evolution could be a part.

“God is responsible for the whole initiative and at some point His design would ensure intelligent human life would occur.

“It perplexes me that at this stage people think there’s any contradiction.”

Father Watson believes contradictions occur through the literal interpretation of the book of Genesis.

The book of Genesis in the Bible describes how God made the heavens and earth in just six days, then rested on the seventh.

Reverend Stuart Evason, of St James Church in Blake Street, Barrow, believes the story in Genesis is simply a metaphor.

“If you read the book of Genesis literally there are two very separate stories of creation – the first where mankind was created on the sixth day and the second, in the second chapter, where mankind is the first thing that’s created and everything else follows,” explains Mr Evason.

“These are explanations of the fact that God created it all.

“Evolution, in its broadest sense, is how things have happened.

“The stories of creation in the bible are why things have happened.

“I started off in life doing maths and physics and have a great interest in astronomy and I can’t see what the problem is. Evolution speaks for itself.

“You know the problem we have with bacteria – when we have antibiotics some survive because they’re resistant and the ones that survive grow and multiply so we have to find new antibiotics? That’s evolution.

“We change to meet the environment we’re in. It all seems eminently sensible, logical and reasonable.”

The Reverend Ian Hook, of St Mark’s Church in Buccleuch Street, Barrow, agrees: “I come from a scientific background and there’s no conflict between theory and evolution and holding a religious world view.

“My argument is if you take Genesis, it’s timeless in its truth.

“It’s not a scientific textbook telling us how, it’s a theological book telling us why. At the beginning of Genesis God said: “Let there be light” – if that’s a big bang I’m happy with that, they’re complimentary. We’re answering different questions but we need to answer both.”

Director of South Lakes Wild Animal Park, David Gill, is a passionate believer in Darwin’s theories, so much so that he named his youngest son Indiana Darwin Gill.

He believes there’s a range of possibilities and polarising people isn’t necessarily helpful.

“These arguments about religion and theories, I’m sure they balance out somewhere,” said Mr Gill.

“It makes you wonder in religion whether they use stories to illustrate meanings.

“Do you believe God created the world in seven days or over millions of years but condensed into a story? Both are credible.

“The whole thing is beyond comprehension and we should never say to anybody it’s impossible or unfeasible.

“I don’t see why we can’t have a balance between different ideas.”

Mr Gill recently returned from a trip to the Galapagos Islands where Darwin conceived his theory of evolution.

“To go from island to island you can see slight changes in the birds with different beak shapes because they’ve had to change to tackle different food sources,” he said.

“Each tortoise is different.

“The tortoises with dome-shaped shells feed off ground vegetation and on another island the tortoises have curved shells to enable them to reach food higher up.

“I was photographing Blue-Footed Boobies in Peru and there was one in the middle which had slightly different coloured feet.

“As this one breeds his dark coloured feet could become more dominant. We can see evolution in the world we live.

“There are five different types of tigers which are all slightly different.

“The smallest lives in the jungle where it’s hot and they don’t need a big body because they eat less food.

“The Arctic tiger needs a bigger body to keep warm and it eats bigger animals.”

The question of how to tackle both creationism and Darwinism in schools was revisited by the Department for Children, Schools and Families in 2007.

It stipulates that “the theory of evolution lies at the heart of biology and should be taught at key stage 4 and in GCE advanced biology. Creationism and intelligent design are not scientific theories and do not form part of the science National Curriculum”.

But the guidelines also recognise the need to “respect” students’ religious views if questions about creationism arise in science lessons.

First published at 11:50, Wednesday, 11 February 2009
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk