About 450 Christian churches in the U.S. plan to celebrate the 197th birthday of Charles Darwin on Sunday to emphasize that his theory of biological evolution is compatible with faith and that Christians don't need to choose between religion and science.
"It's to demonstrate, by Christian leaders and members of the clergy, that you don't have to make that choice. You can have both," said Michael Zimmerman, dean of the College of Letters and Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, who organized the event.
Darwin's theory holds that life on Earth, including humans, shares common ancestry and developed over millions of years through the mechanisms of natural selection and random mutation. The concept is repugnant to many conservative Christians because it conflicts with their belief that man was specially created in the image of God.
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