The theory of Natural Selection says that “populations change over time as the frequency of advantageous alleles increases. These could accumulate over time to result in adaptation and speciation.” If one were to be in an environment where water could only be found on the cup-shaped leaves of a very tall tree and there were two different ground-based species in that area, the one most capable of getting to the water (e.g. long neck) would be the ones to survive, the other species would die-out unless it could find another niche where as to get water. This theory goes against all of what the Bible says about creationism. “So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.” After believing that everything was created by God, then having the scientific community explain to the world in great detail and with facts that evolution was the answer, caused many to rethink their beliefs. The Church of course thought this idea was absurd; they declared “Darwinism is an attempt to dethrone God. Anyone accepting Darwin’s views is under the frenzied inspiration of the inhaler of mephitic gas.” The problem facing religion was, yet again, the battle of faith and fact. The fact that still today some people of religious background think the theory of evolution is fiction proves that the Church has adapted a little, but not entirely.
What hurt the Church’s reputation the most was that the general acceptance of Darwin’s book happened so quickly that the Church had little time to act on it. “Some prominent scientists continue to reject the idea of evolution, but only a few years after On the Origin of Species is published, evolution is mainstream science. Magazines and newspapers -- even religious publications -- promote evolution. On exam papers at church-run Cambridge University, students are told to assume "the truth ... that the existing species of plants and animals have been derived by generation from others widely different."” With the theories of Galileo, the Church had much more power and was able to suppress his ideas for an extended period of time. With Darwin, the Church had less authority due to free speech, and with the invention of the printing press, books and essays were easier to spread around to the Western World. The Church realized that they couldn’t quell the growing popularity of the theory of natural selection, and has kept the stance of stating quotes that are vague and misleading. The Church to this day still refuses to give a simple yes or no answer for fear that it could cause another backlash among its followers. A statement as current as 1996 best describes this phenomenon, “On Wednesday, Pope John Paul II declared that "fresh knowledge leads to recognition of the theory of evolution as more than just a hypothesis" in a formal statement sent to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. The Vatican announcement generated headlines in the international media, and guarded disapproval from Protestant fundamentalist sects and representatives of the "creationist" movement who insist that literal accounts of the origin of life and the universe as stated in Genesis are true, rather than evolutionary scenarios espoused by Charles Darwin and successive generations of scientists.” Clearly even a statement as vague as this still creates quite a tremor in the religious world. If evolution were to be true, what in the Bible could be trusted? The theory of planetary movement had been disproved and the Church had to take back what they firmly believed, same with many other scientific achievements regarding biology, chemistry and physics.
The Church, in order to survive to this date, has undergone its own form of evolution. Other religions that have not made the modern changes have disappeared off the face of the earth, never to be heard from again. The Church now realizes that most of the writings in the Bible were written long ago by people who had no scientific experience or theory, so by ignoring those writings and focusing on the less controversial writings (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) involving Jesus, they have put the past behind them and have decided to ignore it, hoping it to go away in time.
http://www.sci.sdsu.edu/classes/biology/bio319/test/materials/ns.html
A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom, Andrew D. White (1896, D. Appleton and Company)
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/religion/revolution/1860.html
http://www.2think.org/pope.shtml