Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools... Romans 1:22
"The officials said that senior bishops wanted to atone for the vilification their predecessors heaped on Darwin in the 1860s, when he put forward his theory that man was descended from apes.
It wants to distance itself from
fundamentalist Christians, who believe in the Biblical account of the
creation of the world in seven days.
An article to be posted on
the Church’s website will say: ‘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.
But the struggle
for your reputation is not over yet, and the problem is not just your
religious opponents but those who falsely claim you in support of their
own interests.’
The article has been written by the Rev Dr. Malcolm
Brown, the director of mission and public affairs of the Archbishops’
Council, the Church’s managing body, which is headed by the Archbishop
of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams....Dr. Brown argues that there is nothing incompatible between the scientific theories adopted by Darwin and Christian teaching.
Horace Barlow, 87, from Cambridge, who is Darwin’s great-grandson.....He said he thought his ancestor would have been pleased to hear the Church’s apology....‘They buried him in Westminster Abbey, which I suppose was an apology of sorts,’ said Mr Barlow.
‘Darwin
was very concerned about offending other people as his wife Emma was a
committed Christian. So I think this apology would have pleased him.’ DailyMail