One of the most commonly held misconceptions in the English speaking world is that Darwin was the first one to promulgate the theory of evolution.

Actually, in Darwin's time, virtually all scientists subscribed to evolution because examination of animals, including those that were extinct, made it readily apparent that evolution was the only reasonable explanation of the observed data. The real question was how did evolution work. As Bill D. stated above, it could have been God's way of making things work.

Darwin postulated the theory of natural selection which said that evolution worked by the passing along of characteristics from generation to generation causing random variations in descendents. Those descendents whose characteristics were best adapted to their immediate environment had the best chances of survival and the best chances of passing along their particular characteristics. In this way, virtually any kind of animal could develop and would develop if the environment gave it the proper direction.

Unfortunately for Darwin, the theory of natural selection left very little room for God to do His work. If evolution was based on random variations and adaption to the environment, God was no longer needed to create the various species of animals.

For this reason, Darwin was attacked all of his life and even after he died. By about 1900, scientists started to see the wisdom of natural selection and by about 1950 there was virtually no opposition to natural selection in the scientific community. Since about 1950, scientists have been finding more and more holes in the theory and, at present, most believe in a modified theory of natural selection.

Religious fundamentalist have grabbed on to these modifications and used them to claim that "the theory of evolution" can't be correct and what we observe can only be God's work.

As W has a penchant to ignore all things scientific, we doubt that he's even heard of natural selection.

Bev and Jerry