The Theories of Evolution by Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin was a man of science. He had a true passion for all things involving both plants and animals. Darwin made many contributions to the field of science, but his main contribution that he is most well-known for involves his theories of evolution, or more specifically, how species tend to change over long periods of time through a process called natural selection. Natural selection is defined by Darwin as the “preservation of favorable variations and the rejections of injurious variations“ (Jacobus 900). Even though many of his theories have now been embraced by the scientific community as natural laws in motion, much controversy remains over whether or not his ideas should be perceived as true scientific law. Despite the discoveries of overwhelming amounts of evidence, many people still believe that evolution is exactly what Darwin called it—a theory, and nothing more.

Charles Darwin, born in 1809, was raised by his two Christian parents. Naturally, young Charles openly embraced the ideas of Christianity, and adopted many religious practices into his own life. By the 1830’s, Darwin had developed a strong desire to study natural history and natural theology, or anything that related to divine design in nature. In 1831, Darwin was invited on a trip of his lifetime: to sail around the world studying Mother Nature’s different types of life. At 22 years of age, thus began Darwin’s 5-year long voyage on the vessel HMS Beagle with his fellow scientific scholars.

I would consider my father to be a smart man. He’s thinks critically and is good at solving problems. Since he graduated college with a degree in mathematics and understands complicated theoretical equations, he’s great at looking at evidence and coming to an accurat...

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...raced back to a common ancestor from inanimate matter.

Recently, I decided it was a good idea to confront my father about why exactly he thought humans did not evolve from primates, especially taking into account the absurd amount of scientific evidence mankind has discovered within that last few centuries. Even though I was curious if his opinions had changed on the topic, I had a good idea that they had not whatsoever. I was right. Everything that I perceived to be incontrovertible evidence I shot at him— natural selection, the discovery of fossils of ancient humans, similarities in humans and primates—was dismissed immediately without much thought or question. I became progressively frustrated until I decided to drop the subject entirely. I came to the conclusion that my dad had his mind set on creationism, and no one, including I, could change his mind about it.