On February 11th we will be hosting our third annual "Darwin Day with Humanists of Utah." It is the time when our chapter celebrates Science. We do this around the birthday of Charles Darwin for there is no person in the history of science or indeed the history of humankind who is more deserving of a celebration of his or her life and birthday. His contribution to science is one of the greatest humanity has in the numerous contributions by scientists of all stripes. The theory of evolution is certainly at the top of any list of human accomplishments.

For me, calling evolution a theory is just fine, even though many who don't understand the scientific method will call a theory "just a guess." I think it is useful to also remember that while Darwin was one of the first to explain the "Theory of Evolution," it should also be thought of as a discovery. He did not invent it or "think it up," evolution has always been there just waiting to be understood.

I believe that advocating for and defending Science and the scientific method are extremely important and require our vigilance. This vigilance is necessary because there are groups and individuals who are working against science, reason, and rationality. It would be easy to feel smug about our knowledge about evolution and earth history, but the people who wish to discredit evolution are not idly sitting back watching, they are active and well funded. We have not instituted Darwin Day to argue against anyone's belief in god. We want our celebration to be about those who have contributed to science and free thought. But it is necessary to recognize the existence of the wide gulf between those of us who understand evolution and those who do not and who work to try to discredit evolutionary science and the other disciplines that are related. They wish to remove evolution from schools if they can or at least wedge creationism into schools in the form of creation science or intelligent design.

At our first two Darwin day events we presented various professors of different scientific disciplines, Biology, Paleontology, and Anthropology. Their presentations were very instructive. This year however, we thought it would be a good idea to focus on Darwin himself. So Professor Bruce Dain of the University of Utah History Department will give us a presentation titled, Darwin's Personality and His Ideas. I hope that you will support our efforts by attending our celebration. I am sure you will enjoy the evening of enlightenment by Professor Dain and of course our tradition of a cake with Darwin's likeness, ice cream and other refreshments. Thank you for your continuing support.

--Robert Lane
President, HoU