Push back against attacks on reason, science

Charles Darwin authored “The Origin of Species” in 1859, which reasoned that random variation, coupled with natural selection, drive evolution. It created tensions that still exist today. Photo: /Fairfield Citizen /Contributed / Fairfield Citizen
Photo: /Fairfield Citizen /Contributed

Monday is the birthday of British scientist Charles Darwin. He was born in 1809, the same day as Abraham Lincoln. Science fans now celebrate it as Darwin Day, and for a reason.

Charles Darwin is recognized as one of the pre-eminent scientists of the 19th century, and his remains rest in Westminster Abbey, near those of Isaac Newton. The thing that earned Darwin this distinction was his work earlier in the century — establishment of the theory of evolution by natural selection.

Biological evolution was not a novel concept at the time. Anaximander of Miletus (610-546 B.C.) was an early thinker who proposed that one species could descend from another. Medieval Islamic science also included the concept. But by the early 19th century, scientists still had no mechanism to drive the process.

Darwin’s contribution was the idea that random variation, coupled with natural selection, provides this capability.

Destined as a young man for the clergy, his life was changed by a voyage around the world, a scientific expedition underwritten by his government. His observations on the trip started him to thinking about what could drive evolution, but he did not publish until 1858, when Alfred Russel Wallace hit upon the same idea.

The two published concurrently, and the following year Darwin’s seminal book, “The Origin of Species,” set the world on fire.

What Darwin had done was to demolish the remaining link between religion and the natural world. Previous scientists had demonstrated our planet is not the center of the universe, and the Earth is millions (later billions) of years old — in direct contradiction to the Genesis story that was the foundation for Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Darwin removed any need for supernatural processes, especially anything resembling the God of Abraham, to explain human existence. To many people, this undercut the very basis for human morality, and it cast their lives adrift in a purposeless world.

The tension extends to this day.

Well into the 21st century, rational-thinking people continue to find it necessary to defend truth and reason against attack. It is now barely seven years prior to the Scopes “monkey trial” centennial, and scientists and scholars daily endure challenges by creationists of a wide spectrum, all pushing some challenge to established science.

And biology is not the only science under attack.

An Oklahoma senator displays a snowball as evidence against human-caused global warming. A disgraced physician publishes a fraudulent paper linking vaccines to autism.

Disregard for verifiable fact now permeates the American political landscape. An outlandish rumor takes life about the time of the presidential election and quickly engulfs a Washington, D.C., pizza parlor. Accurate reporting puts the lie to the story, but, against all reason, a person caught up in the frenzy goes so far as to barge into the restaurant, brandishing a firearm and discharging it.

An American presidential candidate lays a carpet of false statements, continuing into his tenure as the country’s leader. News outlets print the truth, which is then proclaimed to be fake news. Millions of voters pick up the chant.

A well-informed citizenry needs to push back against attacks on logic and reason. A lone voice of resistance should become a million. There must be no backing down in defense of what is demonstrably true.

The freethinker movement has a history in Central Texas. Immigrants from Germany settled here in the mid-19th century, and their legacy of resistance to absolutism in religion and government has seeped into our society. The Freethinkers Association of Central Texas, or FACT, continues this tradition, championing open discussion and insisting on respect for rational thinking. More than an anti-religious gathering, it serves as a channel for many who hold compassion and respect for human dignity above the exigencies of political power.

On Darwin Day, we resolve to continue Darwin’s legacy of championing fact before fable.

John Blanton is a retired engineer living in San Antonio. After serving a Navy Reserve tour, he obtained degrees in engineering, math and physics. Blanton has studied the issue of creationism, including intelligent design, for 30 years and has written extensively on the subject. He blogs on science, politics and religion.