There Are Plenty of Good Reasons to Celebrate Darwin Day

Atheism isn't really one of them

Today is Charles Darwin's birthday. Were he alive today, the originator of the theory of evolution would be 200 years old.

Today people all over the world are celebrating Darwin's achievements as a scientist. And rightfully so. But amongst all of these revellers are thousands of individuals who have missed the mark and simply aren't wise enough to recognize it.

These, naturally, are the individuals celebrating Darwin day as an atheist holiday.

There's little question that Charles Darwin was an agnostic -- once a committed Christian who came to believe that there was no evidence for God's existence. But to make Darwin's life about his agnostic religious views rather than what really sets him apart in history -- his science -- is absolute farce.

The value of the theory of evolution isn't as atheist scripture. The value of theory of evolution is as a scientific theory.

To distort Darwin's birthday into something of a Christmas for atheists can be considered to subordinate science to atheism. Science's value isn't in promoting atheism, it's in providing an empirical basis for knowledge that anyone enterprising enough to study the world can understand.

The folly of these atheists using Darwin day to promote atheism is akin to the folly of actor/Christian fundamentalist Kirk Cameron, who blames the theory of evolution on atheism then chooses to debate the issue with individuals so intellectually inept that they can't fashion a decent response to his ridiculous arguments.

The theory of evolution isn't for atheists alone. The legacy that Charles Darwin established is the right of all those who believe in science, believer and non-believer alike.