In 1859 when Charles Darwin's Origin of The Species book was released, a lot smaller percentage of the population than today, could read. Education was not compulsory and was not accessible to all.
As a result of this only a certain subset of educated people would have actually been able to read the book. This meant that the theory was a lot more widely accepted in 1859, a shade under 100 years before the discovery of DNA, than it is today.
One of the interesting results of this Victorian status quo, was that the Christian church pretty much accepted the theory straight away. That is not to say they agreed with Darwin that life evolved without the help of a divine creator. More rather they agreed that the evidence for natural selection was overwhelming.
This, I remind you again, was in a time when they had no idea of the existence of DNA, and the documentation of the fossil record had barely started.
Before we go on, think about that for a second; men (for there were no women) of god, who wholly believed in the bible and heaven and hell and all of that, accepted Darwin's theory simply because they were educated.
Regardless of whether you believe in a god or not, it is pretty hard to argue against how religion in its various forms, has been used to subjugate and bully the masses, especially when employed by the state.
When Britain and America were involved in the slave trade, both countries used religion to keep their human cargo in check.
The British Empire's use of religion manifested itself via the missionaries, brutal sadist who would travel to India and Africa in order to introduce Christianity to the 'savages'.
The missionaries made sure they focused on the suffering of Christ, that way they could present suffering as a virtue. The oblique message was, you have to pay for your time in eternal paradise, with suffering and pain. You should be happy for the opportunity to be a slave.
In America today we still see the traces of their version of subjugating via religion, in evangelical Christianity. The method of delivery was different, however the message was the same; suffering, and therefore being a slave, is all part of god's plan.
It is telling that today, the most evangelical states in America, are also the same states who fought to keep slavery in the American Civil War, hence the continued existence of the Southern Baptist Church.
So the church in the UK happily accepted Darwin's theory, as to dismiss it at the time, was considered absurd. However they modified it somewhat, and it so horrified Darwin, that he was compelled to write his second book on the subject; Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex.
At the time of writing his original book on evolution; Charles Darwin decided to leave out any mention of human beings. He did so not because he felt that somehow homo sapiens was outside of evolution, but because blasphemy laws still existed, and it was still possible to be jailed for such a ridiculous thing.
Also he probably felt that the ensuing debate would get in the way of his amazing discovery, that we are all descended from an ancient common ancestor.
However the church leapt upon the omission, but not the way you would expect them to. The church put forward the notion that indeed natural selection and evolution was real, and that modern man, had 8 different progenitors.
They claimed that this explained the different races, they also claimed that god in his infinite wisdom had created this state of affairs. God had seen to it that white people had descended from the higher apes, whereas everyone else had come from lower, inferior stock.
This, they said, justified slavery or any other brutality meted out on any non-white person, because they were just like dumb, unfeeling animals.
Wow!
Today of course, we know that there were around 20 different hominid species (not all related to us) that emerged in the 6 or so million years since our ancient ancestor split from the ape-like creature that created us.
For years we talked of a 'missing link', however that is no longer a factor, we can see quite clearly the 6 million year progression in the fossil record that took us from an upright walking, plane dwelling, ape-like creature, to the full wonder and glory of homo sapiens.
For some people this is easy to accept, for others it is easier to come up with convoluted reasons as to why Darwin was wrong. Regardless of whether you accept it or not, the fossil record is right there for you to access, either online, or at your nearest natural history museum.
Perhaps one day, as many people will understand and believe the theory, as did in 1859. In that respect, for once we want to go backwards.
Further reading:
The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex: wiki
Darwin and the theory of evolution - British Library article
Church owes Darwin apology over evolution, says senior Anglican
Darwin and the Church: Cambridge University
The Pope Would Like You to Accept Evolution and the Big Bang
Letters From Darwin:
Letters From Darwin - The Evolution Of The Eye
Letters From Darwin - An Evolutionary Coin Flip
Letters From Darwin - Understanding Probability With A Universe In A Box
Image source
Orangutan (cropped) by Dawn Armfield at Unsplash
