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Welcome to the June 2024 newsletter,
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I am so grateful for your continued support!
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I love hearing from my fellow heathens,
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A few weeks ago, I was honored to meet with a group of local high school students to talk about grief. We talked about:
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- grief having many shapes and sizes
- how grief can also include big life changes
- evidence-based ways to help ourselves feel better if we are experiencing grief
- how to support other experiencing grief
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In July, I will once again join the members of American Atheists for an encore workshop on grief. Stay tuned!
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Charles Darwin
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Charles Darwin is perhaps best known for his book, On the Origin of Species, which lays out his theory of evolution. These early thoughts were captured in his notebooks along with the sketches known round the world. In his writings he used the terms transmutation or descent to describe what we now call evolution.
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Darwin was an English Naturalist who joined the HMS Beagle for a voyage around the world from 1831-1836 when he was 22 years old. It was on this journey that he drew his now famous diagram depicting evolving characteristics between different creatures.
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Darwin lived at a time when atheists were jailed for blasphemy. His family was Unitarian and he saw what happened to radical thinkers that did not align with a creator, they became social outcasts.. He was careful and did not widely publicize his skepticism. But in his private notes, we see the truth of his thinking and his criticisms of creationism. Darwin once described religions as a tribal survival strategy.
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Darwin is well known for his research on finches of the Galapagos, and his observations of beaks evolving to optimally grab and eat seeds depending on the island and the available food.
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Charles Darwin I think cuff bracelet
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From Charles Darwin's early inklings of evolution straight from his notebooks on the S.S. Beagle, this handwritten note appears alongside his famous tree of life sketch. Stainless steel, adjustable. $45
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Earth Day, Christianity, and Science
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Speaking of animals, Earth Day recently passed and I found myself reflecting on the ecological impact of the damaging beliefs held by Europeans who came to North America while seeking religious freedom. One of the core tenets of Christianity is that a god made everything for humans and he has a master plan. This belief, a form of magical thinking, can be seen in modern, seemingly benign phrases like "it will all work out" or "everything happens for a reason." Such thinking can absolve people of responsibility for their actions, potentially leading to significant, irreversible damage.
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For example, the religious European colonists arrived in a land teaming with wildlife. Since their god had a perfect plan and made everything for them, they seemed to think very little about maintaining healthy populations. Instead they exploited the behavioral habits of animals like passenger pigeons, decimating entire nesting colonies in one go.
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Since then, we have become more thoughtful about treading in harmony with our world. While we have so much work to do, exciting things are happening! Among them, restoring lost species. You may have heard about the mammoth project but there are several other projects in the works. In honor of Darwin's interest in birds as a keystone species, If you are interested in learning more about some attempts to restore extinct and endangered species like the passenger pigeons, check out Revive and Restore.
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Do you know someone who would enjoy this newsletter? Sharing is caring!
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