I agree that people should be given ‘proper information’. Your information is tainted and clouded with some very dubious claims. I deal here only with your assessment of Darwin, as it shows you think you know as much about Charles as you do evolutionary theory.
“evolution is and has been from the start, an attempt to disprove the bible.”
From the very earliest beginnings the writings of Greek and Roman natural philosophers of the ancient world, like Lucretius and Ovid propounded the rough outline of evolutionary development based on no more than their observations of domestic animal husbandry and the comparative assessments of animals in the wild. The proximity of their poetic works with the basic evolutionary tenets are striking. It is likely most had heard of the famed and revered Jewish Torah, but beyond similarities between it and other even older writings about the creation of the world I seriously doubt they had any designs in disproving them.
“Darwin was part of a group that wanted to take science away from the influence of the church and move to establish a separate body focused on scientific research.”
Firstly, this group you mention, I think you are referring to the Lunar Society which was a secular and enormously successful organisation of scientists, industrialists and free thinkers who actively sought to improve applications of scientific research and general modern studies for the improvement of living standards. It was a humanitarian organisation that brought revolutionary improvements to industry and society. It was not an organisation dedicated to proving the bible wrong.
Charles’s grandfather, Erasmus Darwin was a founding member of the Lunar Society and as such, a leading figure in the anti-slavery movement and in the improvement of agriculture with the application of science.
Charles Darwin, born years after the Society faded, was never a member and initially he did not share his grandfather’s disdain for religion.
It’s my bet that creationists have ’ mixed these two up in a desire to further demonise Charles as the bogey man for fundamentalism.
Darwin associated with other like-minded students and researchers who he came into contact through his university studies, some of whom like Charles were self-professed Christians, who through their first-hand field work into such areas as geology, biology, anatomy, astronomy, and evolution, found disturbing conflicts with the mythical tales of both the biblical creation and general biblical taxonomy (ie bats are not birds)
Darwin did not lightly concede to the obvious ‘heresy’ of his theory of ‘transmutations’. From his personal writings it was largely his misgivings about the challenge posed by his theory of natural selection, to his religion that delayed the publication of his book by twelve years, despite the constant urgings of his fellows who recognised the importance of his findings. There were many times he struggled with the idea of giving up his theory.
Where is your evidence Darwin rushed his publication with the declaration he had disproved the bible?
I suggest you actually read ‘Origin of the Species’, ‘Descent of Man’ and ‘The Autobiography of Charles Darwin’, rather than swallow creationist gossip.
Linnaeus, the father of modern taxonomy, a century earlier than Darwin, in the first modern universal classification of the natural world, in light of his devout Christianity, had to defend, his ‘sacreligous’ placing of man amongst the apes as being an overwhelming requirement based his detailed research, not any desire to disprove the bible or to lessen Man’s spiritual ranking, nor to suggest that God’s image was that of an ape. He merely reported his findings with openness and dignity which should always be the manner in dealing with ‘truths’ no matter how disagreeable to established ‘wisdom’.
" However, Darwin did not invent evolution, he just brought it to our attention. Others came to the same conclusions as Darwin."
Evolution was a persistent challenge to biblical theology. Lamarck, Mendel, Wallace and countless others were pushing their own theories and ideas based on their research and not their prejudices. Even Erasmus Darwin had written a book, ‘Zoonomia’ on evolution based on his own observations in the field and on the farm well before Charles was born.
It would be truer to say that Darwin came to the same conclusions as everyone else, it was just that he suggested the very convincing and durable mechanism of natural selection, which in no way disproves any god, but only conflicts with the absolute wording of the first chapter of the bible, which has been copied from much earlier mythical depictions of creation of the world and of mankind.
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