2006-09-07 11:31:14 · 8 answers · asked by ? 6 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Biology
No. That's one of the few things that creationists and "evolutionists" now agree on ... both sides have debunked this story.
This is the infamous "Lady Hope" story. In a nutshell, an evangelist named Lady Hope claimed before a gathering of followers of evangelist Dwight Lyman Moody, that she had personally and privately converted Darwin and heard his final recantation as he lay on his deathbed. Everyone, from Darwin's wife Emma (who was a staunch Christian herself and would have loved nothing more than for her husband to have found religion), and his daughter Henrietta, stauchly denied that Lady Hope got anywhere near Darwin's deathbed.
To me this was one of the sleaziest tactics I ever heard. At least Gallileo was forced by church threats to recant the Copernican theory of a sun-centered solar system. This woman, a so-called "Christian", flat-out lied (I think you call that "bearing false witness") about what a man said on his deathbed. How sleazy can you get.
The fact that many creationists (not all) still repeat this story, is just a continuation of the same sleaziness. (To their credit, many creationist sites and authors actively discourage fellow creationists from using this story ... but I wonder sometimes if this is just because it is a preferred tactic to try and paint Darwin as an unrepentant athiest to the end ... which is also false.)
But an even more important point is that all these efforts to discredit Darwin *himself* could only come from someone who has no understanding of science WHATSOEVER. Even if Darwin completely recanted all his work IT WOULD NOT MATTER ... no more than Gallileo's coerced recantation suddenly made the earth the center of the universe again. If you ever hear someone tell the "Darwin recanted" story as a mark against evolution, this is someone who does not understand science AT ALL.
2006-09-07 12:27:34 · answer #1 · answered by secretsauce 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
There is no evidence that Darwin did that. As a matter of fact, he figured out the theory as a young man, but refused to publish his findings until he was an old man.
2006-09-07 11:37:01 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Darwin struggled with the mechanism for evolution -- he knew that it happens, he just couldn't figure out how. He did express this concern in many of his notes and letters. It wasn't until the discovery of DNA and the role it plays that the actual mechanism for evolution could finally be determined.
2006-09-07 11:42:46 · answer #3 · answered by stevewbcanada 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
they don't understand the idea of evolution holds up by using clinical evidence they prefer to administration it like a faith. So even as some new faith may loose credibility if the founder says- I be apologetic about this I basically made each thing up because i can make money (and at times get laid- see warren Jeffs) they don't understand this no longer the case- and they are attempting an attraction to authority.
2016-11-25 19:42:43 · answer #4 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Not that I am aware of. His final book, the racily titled "The Formation of Vegetable Mould, Through the Action of Worms, With Observations on Their Habits" was published in 1881, a year before his death. It summarised a great deal of his work.
2006-09-07 11:38:09 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Darwin said, "there are many key points missing, that are needed in order to prove evolution".
2006-09-07 11:36:22 · answer #6 · answered by Kevin H 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Nope
2006-09-07 11:36:26 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
no "Darwin's Theory of Evolution" stays always with "survival of the fittest."
2006-09-07 11:40:25 · answer #8 · answered by becky s 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋