Darwin and Religion

          Strife, conflict, and debate between science and religion began as early as Galileo’s Dialogue published in 1633 continuing to modern day creationists. But during Darwin’s era, natural science was rapidly evolving into a professional and modernized practice. Common religious misconceptions could now be proven or disproven using reasoning, experimentation, and research. One such misconception was creationism. Creationism is the religious belief that the universe was created by an omnipotent being.

The Anglican Church taught that God created the world exactly as recorded in the book of Genesis in the Bible, which recorded the creation of the universe and all living creatures occurring within seven days. Darwin uprooted the common religious and cultural evolutionary doctrine of creationism with his publication of Origins of the Species. During his education and voyage on the HMS Beagle Darwin supported the literal interpretation of the Bible and God’s direct intervention in creation because of his religion oriented childhood and religious education. In his autobiography Darwin remarked:

 “I was quite orthodox, and I remember being heartily laughed at by several of the officers (though themselves orthodox) for quoting the Bible as an unanswerable authority on some point of morality. I suppose it was the novelty of the argument that amused them. But I had gradually come, by this time, to see that the Old Testament; from its manifestly false history of the world, with the Tower of Babel, the rainbow as a sign, etc., etc., and from its attributing to God the feelings of a revengeful tyrant” (Autobiography 85 ).

Gradually, however, Darwin strayed from the creationism and developed his theory of evolution, which stated that all life is related and has descended from a common ancestor. Originally Darwin’s theory incorporated a divine being where God initiated creation and His divine intervention crafted species over time. Darwin claimed that some adaptations, such as the human eye, were too complex to be formed by natural selection alone but required a divine design. Besides generally supporting the Church’s creationist position, the lay community in Darwin’s time clung to several traditions which conflicted with Darwin’s evolutionary theories, namely fixity of species. Fixity of species generated the public skepticism of Darwin’s work. Fixity of species originates from creationism and argues that all species remained unchanged throughout the history of the earth. Fixity of species stated that every organism was created by God in its present, ideal form. Darwin contradicted this common belief through his theory of phylogeny. Today the Catholic Church and most religions have abandoned the creationism and now accept evolution as scientific fact, advocating theistic evolution, which is evolution caused and guided by God. 

            Darwin’s personal religious life migrated from apathetic to zealous to agnostic, a journey which influenced and infiltrated his writings; this religious journey also sparked public controversy and interest during Darwin’s life. Darwin attended an Anglican public school during much of his childhood, an environment he resented compared to his naturalist hobby. While studying to become a clergyman Darwin studied Christian dogma and theology.  He was particularly impressed by John Bird Sumner’s Evidences of Christianity, which logically advocated the legitimacy of Christianity. His wife Emma constantly challenged and questioned Darwin about his theory and religion. They often discussed the connection between Christianity and their shared Unitarianism roots. Darwin’s doubt in God was initiated by the death of his daughter Annie in April 1851. Although his faith had been dwindling, after Annie’s death Darwin stopped attending church services and denounced any afterlife. Annie’s death proved the main impetus for Darwin’s conversion into Theism. His work actually strengthened his belief in the existence of a divine being. “The extreme difficulty or rather impossibility of conceiving this immense and wonderful universe, including man with his capacity of looking far backwards and far into futurity, as the result of blind chance or necessity. When thus reflecting I feel compelled to look to a First Cause having an intelligent mind in some degree analogous to that of man; and I deserve to be called a Theist” (autobiography). Darwin is commonly portrayed in conflict and debate with the Anglican Church but he and Emma supported local parishes, namely Downe parish in Kent.

            Darwin’s personal religious life mirrors his journey through compromise with the Anglican Church’s standpoint on evolution. Born into an Anglican and Unitarian family, Darwin was surrounded by both, conventional Anglican doctrines, including creationism, and the free-thinking practices of Unitarians.  Darwin’s education at Cambridge College and early interest in geology and natural sciences was heavily influenced by the religion of his day. He studied Paley’s Natural Theology, which argued God had a direct hand in adaptations, and Lyell’s uniformitarianism or “progressive creationism” geological theory. Both Paley and Lyell influenced Darwin’s early evolutionary theory, a combination of creationism and uniformitarianism.  Darwin’s personal religious beliefs influenced both his political standpoints and his work. Darwin was a liberal Whig and supported the Great Reform Act of 1832, which franchised (gave voting rights) to millions of middle and lower class English citizens. Darwin’s opposition to slavery originating from his study of phylogeny and led him to support abolitionists. In a letter written to his sister Catherine in 1833 Darwin remarked: “What a proud thing for England, if she is the first European nation which utterly abolishes it [slavery]” (Letter 206). Darwin’s research and theory led to several worldwide political and social debates, such as applying natural selection to humans. If Darwin’s theory of natural selection was to be applied directly to humans the most adapted humans-the rich and affluent-would hold all the power over the population and would eventually eradicate the weaker population. Darwin remarked about the public’s incorrect application of his theory in a letter written to colleague Charles Lyell: ”I have received in a Manchester Newspaper a rather good squib, showing that I have proved “might is right” and therefore that Napoleon is right and every cheating tradesman is also right” (Letter 2782).