Yes, there is some irrational veneration of him, especially in the US. Why not a Copernicus day? Since Copernicus had as profound effect on our thinking as Darwin. After Copernicus, Earth and Earthlings no longer had a special place in the universe. We were just the 3rd planet from the Sun, and we orbited it. We were nothing special in the universe after Copernicus.
The irrational veneration of Darwin, I believe is in some ways for secular humanists of the Enlightenment to get back at the Catholic Church’s treatment of science and scientists. Copernicus destroyed our being in a special place in a God created universe. Darwin, specifically by showing that all living creatures on Earth are related through common decent, destroyed the specialty of human beings. We are just another animal species without souls like all the other animals. It was Darwin who destroyed Adam. So the irrational veneration of Darwin is for doing that to the oppressors of science and Enlightenment thinking and reasoning.
However, for me as an American, a MLK holiday is much more important than a Darwin day.
Finally, I think the most significant discovery of mankind is the one made in my hometown Holmdel, New Jersey - That the universe had a beginning. No, I am not advocating for a Penzias and Wilson Holiday but in terms of significance, I go:
- Penzias and Wilson
- Einstein (not Newton)
- Copericus
- Darwin