With a full week of events planned for Darwin Days, the simmering battle between evolution and creation has boiled to the surface.

The beliefs of some scientists and religious figures differ on how mankind came into being: Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution or the creation- theory from the Bible.

According to merriam-webster.com, Darwinism is “a theory of the origin and perpetuation of new species of animals and plants that offspring of a given organism vary, that natural selection favors the survival of some of these variations over others, that new species have arisen and may continue to arise by these processes, and that widely divergent groups of plants and animals have arisen from the same ancestors.”

Stephen Mullin, a professor of biological science, thinks the term Darwinism is often misused.

“Some people see (Darwinism) as a belief system, just as Christianity,” Mullin said.

Mullin said that Darwinism is a belief, where as biological evolution, or the change of living creatures over time, is fact.

To some, Darwinism challenges their religious faith, but others accept both beliefs.

“Many, many scientists are comfortable with religious ideology and biological ideology,” Mullin said.

Bill Hall, a pastor at the Charleston Community Church, opposes the theory that all species come from the same ancestors.

“We believe in creation,” Hall said. “We believe that man is a special creation of God.”

Danah Himes, associate campus minister for the Christian Campus House, agrees with parts of evolution.

“I believe in evolution among species,” Himes said. “But I don’t believe humans evolved from chimpanzees.”

Himes does not represent the organization with her beliefs about microevolution.

Like Himes, Hall believes there is change among individual species.

“I believe that there are changes that are observed, but not that one species turns into another,” Hall said.

Sam Bohne can be reached at 581-7942 or shbohne@eiu.edu.