Pentecost literally means 50th. It is a feast
celebrated
on the
50th day after the Passover feast by the Jews and a feast celebrated on the 50th day after the feast of the Resurrection
of
Jesus by the Christians. The Jewish Pentecost was originally
a post- harvest thanksgiving feast. Later it was celebrated to remember God’s covenants
with Noah after the Deluge and with Moses at Mt. Sinai
Rose Lincoln/Harvard Staff Photographer
“If you live in a society that is dysfunctional and unhealthy, where people are doing better than you, you need solace from somewhere. You get it from religion,” said Jerry Coyne. “The thing that blocks acceptance of evolution in America is religion.” Coyne's talk, sponsored by the Harvard Museum of Natural History, was part of its “Evolution Matters” lecture series.In America’s dysfunctional society, people need God more than Darwin.That was the summation Wednesday of prominent evolutionary biologist Jerry Coyne, a University of Chicago professor of ecology and evolution who has worked for years to counter creationists’ anti-evolution arguments. Coyne, author of the 2009 book, “Why Evolution Is True,” cited surveys that indicate American acceptance of evolutionary theory is near the bottom among its peer nations.
