Missionary position

MISSIONARY POSITION: Although Darwin died an agnostic and is still assailed by conservatives for his groundbreaking work on evolution, cultural historian Mark Graham of Grove City College says that Darwin never was against religion. In fact, Darwin's first publication after his worldwide voyage on the HMS Beagle was a public letter defending missionary work in the Pacific.

"The march of improvement, consequent on the introduction of Christianity, through the South Seas, probably stands by itself on the records of the world," Darwin wrote in 1836. Says Graham: "I don't think Darwin would recognize his defenders today and probably wouldn't understand his attackers" Journal of Religious History, reported in USA Today, July 1).

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