How did Christian Darwinists in the 19th Centuary manage to accept both Religion and evolution?

Question

Which people between 1800-1900 were both christians and darwinists?

Answer 1

Oh that's easy.

First they didn't go to Modern American Public Schools which means they were better educated.

Second If you pay attention to the Creation of the World in the Book of Genesis and Imagine your self standing on the Earth as she was forming, you will find there is no contradiction to Evolutionism or Creationism in the order which things came into being.

First minerals, then vegetables, then animals, then Humans.

The only real argument is rather or not their was intelligence behind it. It doesn't matter if God brought us strait from the Earth or took the long route by way of primates; it's the same thing.

Darwinists have the argument of "Natural Selection" where Creationists have the argument of "Consciousness" and "How can so many accidents happen/ how many times can the universe say oops before we stop believing their wasn't something deliberate here."

Answer 2

Darwin was not heavily criticized by Christians until the early 1900s, when secularism and liberalism threatened their views. The only criticism that came about was due to Darwins departure from normal experimental science (Baconian). A few theologians began to see inconsistencies with Darwinism and conservative theology, namely Charles Hodge of Princeton. He was the most vocal critic. Yet most believed evolution and creation went together suitably. Even at the time of the Scopes Trial, most believed in the Day Age theory (long ages for each creation day), including Bryan, the Christian prosecutor.

Answer 3

"Devlsadvoct"s answer is a key point of this discussion. We make too much of the shrill literalist minority. Don't let their over-representation on this forum fool you. Hundreds of millions of Christians have no problem with the concept.

Of course historically, as always happens when science erodes some absurd scriptural tenet, there is a period of "adjustment" - as happened when Christians had to admit the possibility that perhaps the earth was NOT exactly the center of the universe. In time, Galileo's heretical status was simply seen as "over-reaching" on the part of the Papacy - no big deal. (Interestingly enough, at least that church has learned its lesson and has "evolved" a workable compromise with Darwin.)

Answer 4

The same way they do today. Evolution is a biological process. It has no bearing whatsoever on one's religious beliefs - unless of course you belong to a sect that tells you the findings of science conflict with their own questionable interpretations of the Bible. I have been a devout Christian my entire life. I'm also a biologist, and fully accept the overwheming evidence supporting biological evolution. Never have I seen anything in either the Holy Bible or the scientific data that suggests any conflict whatsoever between the two. Truth cannot conflict with truth.

Answer 5

Because Darwin the man was quite inoffensive to religion, and often referenced "the Creator" in his works. Origin of Species is written in a very deferential, almost apologetic manner. Add in to this that Christianity was already in the process of an upheaval in England, with the major re-openings of the Catholic church, and much of what could have been found to be offensive in his works flew under the radar.

Answer 6

One belief could have been that evolution entered the world AFTER the garden of eden, when sin entered and death entered the world. That would have alloweed people to believe both in original creation, and later evolution. Though it might still strain the '7 day creation' story.

Answer 7

Theistic Evolution. My biology professor explained it to me once.

It is the idea that evolution and natural selection takes place, but it is all part of God's plan.

Answer 8

The majority of today's denominations accept both christianity & darwinism

The creationism / ID movement is nothing more than a small, very vocal minority.... who are now also very disgraced.

Answer 9

The only way christians accept both religions is to P-pff the non-christian's.

Answer 10

The two aren't as exclusive as many people would like you to believe.