OXFORD, England (RNS) — When Charles Darwin published his landmark theory of evolution by natural selection in the 19th century, religious leaders were confronted with a powerful challenge to some of their oldest beliefs about the origins of life. Then evolutionary theory was expanded with the insights of genetics, which gave further support for a scientific and secular view of how humans evolved. Faith and tradition were forced further onto the defensive. Now, exciting progress in biology in recent decades may be building up a third new phase in the scientific explanation of life, according to thinkers gathered at a University of Oxford conference last week (July 19-22). Source: Scientists, theologians ponder if latest biological findings are more compatible with religion