Darwin was a classic Brit toff of his generation – crumpets and tea and genteel unbelief sat well with administering the parish church. Indeed. British physicist David Tyler tells us,
In an informative essay, Janet Browne reflects on three Darwin commemorations: his funeral in Westminster Abbey, the 1909 centennial and the 1959 celebration. Each grasped the “opportunity to push an agenda, and even to adapt the past, so telling us what we like best to hear”.
For sure.
I defy anyone to read this ridiculous hagiography, and not realize that something is fundamentally wrong with the Darwin picture. Are people really expected to sit through this in museums? (I guess so. But if they walk out, good for them!)
Still, don’t expect your local science education consultant to grasp that there is a problem right away. She might still be dancing with the biologists, or something. Anyway, she has a mandate to teach Darwin as The Truth – or anyway as the last secular icon standing.
Yawn. Oh, by the way, New Scientist has published non-materialist neuroscientists’ letter protesting a recent smear. Hey, non-materialism is fun!