D-Day

On Thursday February 12th, the world celebrated Charles Darwin's 200th birthday. Or at least the world had that option.

I have been getting off at the same metro station for the past half year. And yet, on that day, I saw something new: people handing out a magazine called "Vågn op" (in Egnlish: "Wake up"). They are Christians. With a capital "C".

Now, my question is this: was that a coincidence? Did they just happen to be at that station at that point? Or was it the birthday of Charles Darwin that made them want to push their point?

2009 is also the 150th anniversary of Darwin's book, On the Origin of Species. So naturally, the whole issue of science versus religion is taken out for a spin. The scary thing is, that so many seem to doubt or reject evolution.

In a recent article (The Economist, February 7th 2009, "Unfinished Business"), a figure was showing the 2006 figures on public acceptance of evolution. My country, Denmark, held second place (only surpassed marginally by Iceland) with more than 80 percent accepting evolution. The rest either doubted or rejcted it. The Netherlands, usually seen as progressive and enlightened, hovered around 60-65 percent. Of course, most people will notice the bottom two (Asia, South America, the Middle East and Africe wasn't included) were: the US (35-40 percent) and Turkey (25 percent).

But after 150 years, the scary thing is, that any country can have any true rejection left.

I could have hoped for a better birthday gift for old Charles. If anyone wants me, I'll be at the anniversary exhibit on evolution:

(Museum of Zoology)