February 12 is Charles Darwin Day

Charles Darwin was mocked.

by Catheine Giordano

February 12 is Charles Darwin Day, the anniversary of his birth in 1809.  

In a letter to a friend, Darwin called Origin of the Species “presumptuous” and “foolish”. It was false modesty because he clearly had a fairly good idea of how his findings in the field of “natural science” would change everything.  He said that publishing his work was like it was like “confessing to a murder.” 
During his own time, some scientists recognized the genius of his work which came to be known as “The Theory of Evolution” while others tried to refute it. Some misunderstood and misused his findings to foster their own philosophies.  Some simply mocked. He is still mocked today by ignoramuses.   

You can learn more about the origins of Darwin Day here: 

What is Darwin Day and Why is It Celebrated?

If you would like to learn more about Charles Darwin and his work, this is a good website.

Charles Darwin and Evolution 

Darwin knew that his work would have a profound effect on religion. He was right.  Darwin’s work explained the workings of the natural world and made God superfluous.   

I made it possible for me to write my own little essays in support of humanism and atheism. 

What is Secular Humanism?

Secular humanism is a little understood human–centered philosophy of life. It is non-theistic, rooted in science, with explicit moral and ethical directives.

Pascal's Wager: Is it a Good Bet?
The famous “Pascal’s Wager” asks us to consider the question of the existence of God as a wager. Which is the better bet—belief or disbelief?

The Billboard Wars: Good without God

"Good without God" may be an idea whose time has come. A recent spate of dueling billboards on this topic has people talking.





The People Who Hate Me are Making Me Rich

Pennies from heaven?

The people who hate me are making me rich. 

OK, not exactly the people who hate me.  It’s the people who hate my ideas who are making me rich. 

OK, not exactly making me rich. I’m still only earning pennies per day from my web essays. But it did go up to 49 cents one day which is way better than the 10 to 20 cents a day I usually get.  

I wrote an article called “The Billboard Wars: Good without God.” It was based on a presentation that Fred Edwords, National Director of the United Coalition of Reason (www.UnitedCoR.org). He gave the presentation at the FreeFlo Humanist Conference in Orlando in October 2014. 

 

 

Fred gave me permission to adapt his presentation for the web. I carefully edited to create an objective piece of reporting.  I explained how some free-thought groups started putting up billboards and ads on the sides of buses. Most of the ads were promoting the idea that people can be good without God.  

These ads got some Christian groups so incensed that they put up counter ads. This brought lots of publicity to the atheist ad campaign. The publicity brought in lots of new members and donations to the atheist groups. Ironically, it was the people who hated them who made them successful.   

I write for HubPages and HubPages encourages their writers to comment on each others’ work (hubs). When someone comments, everyone who “follows” that person will see their comment.  One person got really nasty.  At first I was upset. Then I realized he was giving my hub a lot of publicity within the HubPages community.  The more he ranted, the more views I got and the more money I made. 

 

Some of my other hubs generated a little bit of controversy, but not enough to make a real difference. Check out What is Secular Humanism? and Thou Shall Not Kill: The Morality of the Death Penalty. 

Additionally, these two hubs were a little bit shocking to a few. Right Livelihood: The Quest for Ethical Work and An Introduction to Unitarian Universalism. 

So if you hate me, maybe you’ll do a comment on facebook and google+.  Better yet, if you love what I have written, please like and comment. Or you could link to these articles on your own websites. (These links are like manna from heaven.)