Public Outcry and Acceptance to Darwin's theory of Evolution

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On Thursday 24 November 1859, Charles Darwin published and made available to the western world his magnum opus, On the Origin of Species, a compilation of some twenty plus years of research regarding the human biology and its advancement. Darwin proposed in Origins that all life slowly evolved, biologically mutated over a period of time, to its present day form. Expanding on prior research in the field of genetics, Darwin theorized a "survival of the fittest" complex which forced basic animals to evolve new advanced traits to survive in their respective environments, in the process theorizing that humans also evolved from lesser creatures. Darwin's theory of evolution was meet with critical response, mainly negative, at the time of its inception, but slowly gained support in the years following. In particular at the time of Origins publishing, the western world was undergoing a religious revival of sorts thanks to the rise of Evangelicalism. Due to conflicts of interest between Darwin's proposed theory of evolution directly contradicting the biblical theory of creationism, much controversy was generated by the publication of Origins. Creationism which stressed the belief of one omnipotent God creating the world and all its inhabitants was the most widely spread belief during this time period. Across the western world different assortments of clergymen attacked, or surprisingly stood in solidarity with the theory of evolution. This brings into question, why were the responses to evolution so disparaging? This can be explained that due to prior established beliefs and knowledge of respective individuals, the reaction to the theory of evolution was at first quite negative, but overtime became more and more accepting as people grew t... ... middle of paper ... ...tarted rationalizing their emotions, the clarity of evolution dawned upon their eyes, and of acceptance of new foreign ideas. Here was a thing that not only could explain the mysteries of life, but also serve as testimonial to the foolishness of pride. Evolution was a hallmark in the relations between science and religion, as the two sides realized neither was trying to undermine the other, and even in some cases joined in union to promote humanities advancement. The story of evolution is significant to history not only because of its scientific achievements, but also the gap it bridged between the scientific and religious community, and the lesson it taught that acceptance of new ideas does not have to mean the end of prior beliefs altogether. No other scientific revolution has generated as much human controversy and unity as Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.

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