Why was Charles Darwin's theory of evolution so unpopular?

Answer 1

Because of their religion.

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Primarily because the slow and gradual changes that Darwin described would take longer than the amount of time documented in The Bible between the creation of the world and modern times. In 1648, Bishop James Ussher published a treatise in which he counted all of the Biblical figures documented in Genesis and purported that the Earth was created on 23 October 4004 BCE. The changes Darwin described would have taken hundreds of thousands, if not millions of years to accomplish, thus denying this particular interpretation of the Bible. Yet there are many interpretations of the Bible, an many other religious texts of the world. Science and religion are not opposites, but complementary.

In addition, if you believe that God created each creature, as Genesis relates, then why would creatures evolve? Wouldn't God have created them perfect for their environment? Change implies that God's creation is imperfect. But God works in mysterious ways. Who are we to question what makes a perfect creature?

Answer 2

Like most theories, it was introduced when the majority of those in the scientific world were still Christian. Since it contrasted with the Bible's story of creation, most believed it was impossible and a heresy.

Answer 3

In Darwin's time religion was a major part of society and Darwin's theory contradicted what had been said in the Bible's story of creation saying that life was created over an enormous period of time rather than a week.

Answer 4

Most people in the 1800's were very religious and the majority of people who read about Darwin's theory of evolution were Christian's. Christians believe that the world was created by a deity in 7 days. This idea that god created earth and everything that lives on it is contradicted by Darwin's theory of evolution which states that all living organisms are derived from a small group of parent organisms.

Also, Christians believe that humans were created in the image of god, making them different from animals. Darwin's theory of evolution states that humans are animals and come from similar ancestors to those that other mammals come from.

Because it was radicalIdeas as radical as evolution by mutation and natural selection always face a backlash. This is understandable, because there are a lot of loonies out there and always have been.

Answer 5

People saw that it meant they were related to chimpanzees, monkeys, and everything else. That upset them. They wanted to continue thinking that their invisible friend had given them rule over all the animals.

Answer 6

Darwin's theory has taught us may things about the world around us and how we or other living things around us have evolved, but they were very religious in the 18th century and many Christians believed that god has changed them by himself.

Answer 7

Answer 1

Initially, the idea was simply too new. Any new idea that is a radical departure from what was thought before would have been criticized. It did not take more than a few decades, however, for the theory of natural selection to be accepted broadly in scientific circles. Nowadays, most people who reject evolutionary theory do so for reasons of personal belief, usually religious belief.

One should note that there is a very strong correlation between ones familiarity with the principles of scientific epistemology and research in general, as well as ones familiarity with the claims and supporting data in evolutionary Biology, palaeontology, comparative genomics and embryology on one hand, and acceptance of the theory on the other. In other words: the less you know and understand about the science, the more likely you are to reject it.