On Feb. 15, nearly 500 churches across the United States will commemorate Charles Darwin’s birthday (Feb. 12) and his contribution to science. They are calling the event ‘Evolution Sunday.’ Many other church congregations plan to celebrate ‘Creation Sunday’ rather than promote evolution.
Atheists will commemorate Darwin on the 12th with ‘International Darwin Day.’ Dr. Michael Zimmerman first suggested that churches hold events over the weekend in light of Darwin’s advancement to science and evolution.
“Evolution Weekend is an opportunity for serious discussion and reflection on the relationship between religion and science,” Zimmerman’s website says. “An ongoing goal has been to elevate the quality of the discussion on this critical topic, and to show that religion and science are not adversaries.”
These types of events have taken place since 2006. Several churches believe that evolution and the Bible are compatible. Many of the 500 churches that have pledged to observe the holiday this year are located in Pennsylvania, New York, California, and Ohio.
Tony Breeden is the founder and organizer of Creation Sunday, which held its first holiday in 2009. He believes that biblical creation beliefs are important and should be observed because “evolution undermines the authority of God’s Word and the foundational basis of the gospel.”
“If I can’t trust the plain meaning of the Bible in Genesis because of the all-natural presuppositions of science, why should I trust it when it speaks of a Virgin birth, water turning into wine, the resurrection of Christ, or any other supernatural claim in the Bible?” Breeden asked. “It’s a slippery slope and it undermines the foundational basis of the Gospel itself.”
He also believes that evolution cannot work alongside religious concepts. He says evolution is equated with an ideology called NOMA, or non-overlapping magisteria. NOMA says that evolution cannot have a relationship with religion because it deals with fact, while religion deals with morality.
“The problem with this concept is that it commits the fact-value distinction,” explains Breeden. “Christianity makes claims (values) that are rooted in historical fact.”
“Even in Darwin’s day, there were ministers who said that there was no contradiction between evolution and Genesis, [and] the fruit of that position is telling, for today Europe is a spiritual wasteland where Christianity is concerned,” Breeden continued. “This is precisely why we urge churches in the United States and abroad to make a stand for the ultimate authority of the Bible and the historical veracity of Genesis by celebrating a Creation Sunday rather than an Evolution Sunday.”
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