Sorry, Charlie.

I suppose this has been all over the British press by now, but the Church of England recently apologized to Charles Darwin:

Scientific American:
“The Church of England owes you an apology for misunderstanding you and, by getting our first reaction wrong, encouraging others to misunderstand you still,” Rev. Malcolm Brown writes on a church Web site marking next year’s 150th anniversary of the publication of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species.

“There is nothing here that contradicts Christian teaching,” he says, adding that the church’s “reaction now seems misjudged.”

I find New Scientist’s coverage of the official Catholic response far more entertaining. Does this not define “arch”?:

In 1950, Pope Pius XII described evolution as a valid scientific approach to the development of humans, a view that was reiterated by Pope John Paul II in 1996. But Ravasi said the Vatican had no intention of apologising for earlier negative views.

“Maybe we should abandon the idea of issuing apologies as if history was a court eternally in session,” he said, adding that Darwin’s theories were “never condemned by the Catholic Church nor was his book ever banned”.

So. There.

Entered on 24 September 2008 at 6:17 in the Science file | Care to make an observation? | Print Print

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