Unitarian Universalists to hold Darwin Day celebration Feb. 7

The Unitarian Universalists of Southern Delaware will hold their first Darwin Day celebration from 3 to 5 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 7. The celebration will commemorate the birth of Charles Darwin, a naturalist born Feb. 12, 1809, for his development of the theory of evolution. Featured speakers will include professors John R. Jungck and Karen Rosenberg from the University of Delaware. The event is free and open to the public.

Jungck is director of the Interdisciplinary Science Learning Center at the Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Laboratory at the University of Delaware. He holds faculty appointments in biology, mathematics and bioinformatics. He is a scholar of Darwin and evolution, and he will discuss Charles Darwin’s Sacred Cause about how the "On the Origin of Species" was written as an attack on racism and slavery.

Rosenberg is an anthropologist with specialties in human evolution, women’s evolution and Neanderthals. She is studying how human evolution and the evolution of the human brain influenced how humans give birth compared to other species. She says she will address “new and wondrous findings in the study of human evolution.”

Betty Kirk, coordinator of adult education at UUSD, says “Unitarian Universalists feel a strong link to Charles Darwin, whose Wedgwood-Darwin family had strong Unitarian roots.” Darwin’s five-year voyage on the HMS Beagle, she says, led him to develop his theory of evolution and descent of man theories that were quite controversial in scientific and religious circles. “UUSD’s Darwin Day Celebration is a wonderful opportunity for UUSD and the public to explore Darwin’s many important scientific contributions,” said Kirk.

The UUSD church is at 30486 Lewes-Georgetown Highway, Lewes. For more information, contact Betty Kirk at at ejkirk@verizon.net or go to www.uussd.org.