Lady Hope, who visited Charles Darwin during his last days on earth, has the following to say regarding his views on evolution towards the end of his life:
It was on a glorious Autumn afternoon when I was asked to go and sit with Charles Darwin. He was almost bedridden for some months before he died. Propped up with pillows, his features seemed to be lit up with pleasure as I entered the room. He waved his hand towards the window as he pointed out the beautiful sunset seen beyond, while in the other he held an open Bible which he was always studying.
"What are you reading now?" I asked.
"Hebrews," he answered, "still Hebrews. The Royal Book, I call it." Then he placed his fingers on certain passages and commented upon them.
I made some allusions to the strong opinions expressed by many unbelievers on the history of the creation and then their treatment of the earlier chapters of the book of Genesis. He seemed distressed, his fingers twitched nervously and a look of agony came across his face as he said, "I was a young man with unformed ideas. I threw out queries, suggestions, wondering all the time over everything. And to my astonishment the ideas took like wildfire. People made a religion of them." Then he paused and after a few more sentences on the holiness of God and the grandeur of this Book, looking at the Bible which he was holding tenderly at the time, he said:
"I have a summer house in the garden which holds about thirty people. It is over there (pointing through the open window). I want you very much to speak here. I know you read the Bible in the villages. Tomorrow afternoon I should like the servants on the place, some tenants and a few neighbors to gather there. Will you speak to them?"
"What shall I speak about?" I asked.
"Christ Jesus," he replied in a clear emphatic voice, adding in a lower tone, "and His salvation. Is not that the best theme? And then I want you to sing some hymns with them. You lead on your small instrument, do you not?"
The look of brightness on his face I shall never forget, for he added, "If you take the meeting at 3 o'clock this window will be opened and you will know that I am joining with the singing."
Quoted from the Bombay Guardian, 25th March 1916, by Prof. H. Enoch in Evolution or Creation (Union of Evangelical Students of India, P.O. Box 486, Madras 7, India, 1966), pp. 165-167.
2007-10-08 15:57:34 · 13 answers · asked by DanD 4 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Piecing together her history it seems that she might not have been in England when he was dying.
It also appears that she was doing revival meetings in California at the time she started talking about converting Darwin, who would have been the most famous and controversial atheist of that time.
Either way, she does not seem to have had much to do with honesty, regarding it as a poor policy compared to being able to tell a good story.
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Fairybear makes a mistake. After the publication of his book about evolution Darwin was indeed openly an atheist.
2007-10-08 16:17:48 · answer #1 · answered by Y!A-FOOL 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋
It's not true. It's been deduced that Lady Hope made the whole thing up to add doubt to the minds of his "followers".
Darwin's family, who were there when during his illness, have remarked that the Lady did not visit him nor did he partake in any recant/conversion upon his death bed. All things considered, do you honestly believe that the only person he would claim these things to would have been a preachy creationist?
2007-10-09 01:11:07 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
There were many so-called "death bed conversions" in those days. It was too scandalous to have an atheist in the family, so many atheists "miraculously" converted on their deathbed, at least according to the family member who would rather the person be remembered otherwise.
I believe that in Darwin's case, the story has pretty much been refuted by family.
2007-10-08 16:00:27 · answer #3 · answered by nondescript 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
It is a notorious fraud. Also, it is in any event totally irrelevant: a theory must stand or fall on its own merits, not on the opinion of any one person, including its original proponent. Evolution is still around because it works; if it didn't, it would long since have been consigned to the trash heap of rejected theories. Evolution is now also a proven fact; proof details are available on request. (Please provide an e-mail address.)
2007-10-08 16:02:08 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 1⤋
A scientist doesn't recant his conclusions except in light of new contradictory evidence. No such evidence was discovered in Darwin's time or at any time since. So no, Darwin did not "recant" his monumental scientific discoveries.
2007-10-08 16:15:03 · answer #5 · answered by PaulCyp 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
He never recanted. His own daughter, Henrietta, confirms this.
"I was present at his deathbed. Lady Hope was not present during his last illness, or any illness. I believe he never even saw her, but in any case she had no influence over him in any department of thought or belief. He never recanted any of his scientific views, either then or earlier. We think the story of his conversion was fabricated in the U.S.A. . . . The whole story has no foundation whatever."
2007-10-08 16:00:24 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 1⤋
Besides that Darwin was an active, faithful Anglican his whole life. Remember not all Christians find evolution incompatible.
2007-10-08 16:04:46 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 2⤋
Darwin's entire family said she wasn't even there. It was a lie from the start.
2007-10-08 16:00:43 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 1⤋
It's pretty remarkable - and telling - that believers are willing to invent this kind of lie, isn't it?
2007-10-08 16:09:39 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 5⤊ 1⤋
::yawn::
Not true.
She was not as his deathbed; his family members who were say the story is nonsense.
.
2007-10-08 16:00:22 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 1⤋