Subject: Darwin Day: We're Growing, Together

From: "Dr.R.Stephens" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 15 Jan 2006 17:25:06 +0000

Dear Fellow Darwin Day Celebrants,

Darwin Day, February 12, 2006, is not far off and it is a pleasure to 
contact you once again to encourage you to register your EVENT on the 
Darwinday.org <http://www.darwinday.org/> Web site, so that we can all 
feel encouraged by our common desire to Celebrate -- especially Darwin, 
Science and Humanity.  Many thanks for having participated in previous 
years.  We look forward to hearing from you again!  It's our belief that 
the citizens of the world long to be involved in human progress.  So, if 
we join together to celebrate those things that unite us, and use the 
tools we have developed such as basic scientific knowledge, intellectual 
maturity and rational thought, to solve our differences -- together we 
can build a better world.

We have begun to notice that as we come closer to Darwin's bicentennial 
birthday on February 12, 2009, more and more colleges, universities, 
humanists, freethought organizations, libraries, museums, private groups 
and churches are joining the annual international Darwin Day Celebration 
of Science and Humanity!  If you have not previously participated we 
hope that 2006 will be the year you join in the fun and informal 
education.  The increasing response to this idea appears to be at least 
partially due to the attempts of fundamentalists to discredit the 
scientific theory of evolution with superstition and pseudo-science 
under the guise of "Intelligent Design."  It's time for those of us who 
know better to respond creatively with a Darwin Day Celebration! 

The staff here at DarwinDay.org <http://www.darwinday.org/> has been 
very busy this past year and we are pleased to report that the Darwin 
Day organization has greatly improved its website and our ability to 
communicate with large numbers of people.  This ability will allow us to 
encourage the development of many more Darwin Day Celebrations 
worldwide.  Please take time to read the new information we have 
recently posted, and will frequently update on the Darwin Day homepage.  
We're currently featuring early registrations for 2006.  There are also 
improvements to be found in most sections of the Web site.  For 
instance, under "News & Views" we have recently added statements and 
essays that support evolution and the need to celebrate Darwin, Science 
and Humanity -- so do take a little time to browse!

Finally we have introduced a section on the home page about the /"Two 
Emancipators",/ born on the same day in the same year: Abraham Lincoln, 
emancipator of the American slaves, and Charles Darwin, emancipator of 
the human mind.  Essays supporting this view are linked to the homepage 
for your convenience.

Sincerely yours,

Robert J. ("Bob") Stephens, Ph. D.
Emeritus Director, Cell Biology Program
SRI International (formerly Stanford Research Institute)
President, Darwin Day Celebration, a nonprofit, tax-deductible 501(c)(3) 
corp.
DarwinDay.org <http://www.darwinday.org>

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