At last gleams of light have come, & I am almost convinced (quite contrary to opinion I started with) that species are not (it is like confessing a murder) immutable.

Charles Darwin, letter to J.D. Hooker, January 11, 1844

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Gallup poll, December, 2010

40% of Americans believe that God created humans "pretty much in their present form at one time" within the last 10,000 years.

As in 4 out of 10.

Another 38%, again about 4 in 10, agreed that "human beings have developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life, but God guided this process."

***

The sheer terror Darwin faced when he developed his theory was not that God did not exist, but that He did not need to, at least not to explain human beings.

From a science standpoint, a guiding hand is not needed once life starts. (How life started remains, of course, a mystery.)

There is comfort in rejecting Darwin's conclusions, as there is comfort in good whiskey and Harry Potter stories.

When I teach biology well, I alter worlds, and wake children to the terrible and wonderful beauty that lies beyond human imagination.

I hope to help children become rational adults. It's why I teach.

I am not sure some of us who support Darwin's ideas grasp the profound way they shake a child's universe.

Like confessing a murder indeed....