The only thing I get tired of more than crazy people invoking Galileo as their defense against criticism of whatever bizarre science 'theory' they are foisting on the world are people on the other side who paint legitimate skeptics as 'Holocaust deniers' - in both cases the comparisons are done by people who have no knowledge at all about the analogy they are using. But sometimes the Galileo comparison is apt and no one got more religious criticism that turned out to be misplaced than Charles Darwin. The church in his native land thinks so as well, and some 150 years too late will concede that it was tough on Chuck. Statue outside Shrewsbury Library, formerly Shrewsbury School. © Shropshire County Council "Charles Darwin: 200 years from your birth, the Church of England owes you an apology for misunderstanding you and, by getting our first reaction wrong, encouraging others to misunderstand you still. We try to practise the old virtues of 'faith seeking understanding' and hope that makes some amends." There can be no question that some in the scientific community with a militant atheist agenda use Darwin for the wrong reasons, namely their culture war, much like some in the religious community attack his 150 year old science and think that somehow invalidates evolution. It's caused a bit of paranoia on both sides. The Church of England has created a special section of its website - www.cofe.anglican.org/darwin to mark the approaching bicentenary of Charles Darwin’s birth in 1809, and the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species in 1859. Here's hoping that this is a small step on getting science and faith back on their respective sides of the aisle. The 95% of us who don't get why there is any fight at all would appreciate keeping them separate.