Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin (1809-1882) was a Victorian biologist who studied the variety of animal species. His travels through South America on the Beagle led him to conclude that natural selection explained the differences between species. His great work is On the Origin of Species (1859), which caused huge controversy and overturned longstanding religious beliefs about the nature of humanity. Although Darwin's Theory of Evolution is accepted science today, its implications remain very controversial among religious believers because it challenges a Biblical understanding of the origins of humanity.
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Charles Darwin: 200 years from your birth, the Church of England owes you an apology for misunderstanding you and, by getting our first reaction wrong, encouraging others to misunderstand you still - The Church of England (2008)
Challenges to the Design Argument
In 1859, Charles Darwin proposed the theory of evolution through natural selection. This theory explains how simple life forms evolve into complex ones over long periods of time. It explains the APPEARANCE of design in living creatures without appealing to a Designer.
According to evolutionary theory, creatures develop complex characteristics because they are useful - whereas creatures with non-useful characteristics tend to die out. Over thousands or millions of years, this leads to dramatic changes. The results can be so complex they look like they have been designed, but in fact they have evolved to fit the environment.
This matters because it shows that just because something in nature looks designed, it doesn't mean it really is designed by an intelligent agent. Natural laws, operating without any purpose or intelligence, might produce something just as complex and ordered as an intelligent designer would do. They just take longer. But then, life on earth has been around for 4 billion years, so there's been enough time.
Darwin was struck by dysteleology in the animal world. The ichneumon fly is a gruesome example. The fly (actually, a type of wasp) is a parasite that places its eggs inside a caterpillar, along with a virus that reprograms the caterpillar's brain to feed and protect the eggs.
This matters because it shows that just because something in nature looks designed, it doesn't mean it really is designed by an intelligent agent. Natural laws, operating without any purpose or intelligence, might produce something just as complex and ordered as an intelligent designer would do. They just take longer. But then, life on earth has been around for 4 billion years, so there's been enough time.
Darwin was struck by dysteleology in the animal world. The ichneumon fly is a gruesome example. The fly (actually, a type of wasp) is a parasite that places its eggs inside a caterpillar, along with a virus that reprograms the caterpillar's brain to feed and protect the eggs.
I cannot persuade myself that a beneficent and omnipotent god would have designedly created the ichneumonidae with the express intention of their feeding within the living bodies of caterpillars, or that a cat should play with mice - Charles Darwin