Evolution Sunday
"Evolution Sunday" is a science focused service conducted in
a number of churches to celebrate Charles Darwin's theory of
evolution. The Sunday chosen since the practice began is
the Sunday closest to Darwin's birthday - February
12th. Evolution Sunday began in 2006 with 467
congregations in 48 states and the District of Columbia
celebrating the 197th anniversary of Charles
Darwin's birthday. Each year since, the number of participating
churches has increased and the practice has spread to include
churches in other countries: in 2007 (618 churches / 5
countries), 2008 (814 churches / 9 countries) and 2009 (1,049 churches / 15
countries). Evolution Sunday (expanded to "Evolution Weekend"
in 2008 to include other faiths) has drawn participation from a
variety of denominational and nondenominational churches,
including Methodist, Lutheran, Episcopalian, Presbyterian,
Unitarian, Congregationalist, United Church of Christ, Baptist
and a host of community churches. It is an outgrowth of "The
Clergy Letter Project", begun by the Dean of the University of
Wisconsin's College of Letters and Sciences, who in stage one
of the plan encouraged clergy across America to sign the letter
supporting evolution and reject the Genesis account of
creation, declaring that evolution "is a foundational
scientific truth," and to reject it "is to deliberately
embrace scientific ignorance and transmit such ignorance to
our children." As of February 2009, 12,400 clergy were reported
to have signed the "pro-evolution" letter including 11,800
Christian clergy and 440 Rabbis. The second stage in the Clergy
Letter Project plan was to solicit donations for a national
project, and "Evolution Sunday" was the third stage, geared to
promote the compatibility of "evolution" and "religion" through
specially prepared sermons and activities.
The hostility toward fundamental Bible believers is evident in the Dean's characterization of them as "fundamentalists" with "loud, shrill voices." The Clergy "letter" presents the issue thusly, While virtually all Christians take the Bible seriously and hold it to be authoritative in matters of faith and practice, the overwhelming majority do not read the Bible literally, as they would a science textbook. Many of the beloved stories found in the Bible... convey timeless truths about God...expressed in the only form capable of transmitting these truths from generation to generation. Religious truth is of a different order from scientific truth. Its purpose is not to convey scientific information but to transform hearts. In other words, "religious truth" lies when it describes, for instance, how the world was made; and it seeks to transmit its "truths" from generation to generation through deceit and falsehood. One must question how such Christian adherents could truthfully describe God as the Creator when they maintain the cosmos is explained by purely naturalistic and materialistic processes.
That these liberal churches would set aside a Sunday in order to celebrate Charles Darwin and openly reject the account of creation and the Bible's truthfulness is powerful evidence that today's Christian churches are in fact becoming "Churches of Humanism." That those claiming to be followers of Christ would promote secular humanism over the Word of God is not only blasphemy, but an indictment of their own confused values and practices.