Charles Darwin became a Christian?

Question

I am learning he researched so extensively that he realized the truth. Why is it then that everyone won't see the truth? Why would people follow darwinism and have that fish of his? Wouldn't they be promoting becoming a Christian? Or do they not realize this?

Answer 1

YES he did, right before he died. He revoked his own teachings on the macroevolutionary process, and stated that special creation (i.e., the account in Genesis) was truth.

Erm.... most people don't realise that because they never do their homework OR think for themselves. They just foolishly believe what everybody else tells them. *sighs*

God gave us a brain for a reason. People who don't think for themselves, annoy me. ♥

Answer 2

Darwin was a Christian, he was training for the Ministry when he went on the voyage of the Beagle as a companion and naturalist to the captain, Robert FitzRoy. he lost his faith many years later because of the death of his daughter, not because of evolution which he knew to be true - as does every scientist. He did not make a deathbed conversion nor did he deny evolution.

Matt s, rather than misquote Darwin as so many creationists do, why do you not quote the whole paragraph from On the Origin of Species? here it is:

To suppose that the eye with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree. When it was first said that the sun stood still and the world turned round, the common sense of mankind declared the doctrine false; but the old saying of Vox populi, vox Dei, as every philosopher knows, cannot be trusted in science. Reason tells me, that if numerous gradations from a simple and imperfect eye to one complex and perfect can be shown to exist, each grade being useful to its possessor, as is certainly the case; if further, the eye ever varies and the variations be inherited, as is likewise certainly the case; and if such variations should be useful to any animal under changing conditions of life, then the difficulty of believing that a perfect and complex eye could be formed by natural selection, though insuperable by our imagination, should not be considered as subversive of the theory. How a nerve comes to be sensitive to light, hardly concerns us more than how life itself originated; but I may remark that, as some of the lowest organisms in which nerves cannot be detected, are capable of perceiving light, it does not seem impossible that certain sensitive elements in their sarcode should become aggregated and developed into nerves, endowed with this special sensibility.

- Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species, 6th Edition

Answer 3

As far as I knew, Darwin was always a Christian (though I may be wrong).

However, he NEVER recanted any of his work on evolution.

Matt s, you need to read what Darwin wrote immediately after that quote.

"To suppose that the eye with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of Spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree. When it was first said that the sun stood still and the world turned round, the common sense of mankind declared the doctrine false; but the old saying of Vox populi, vox Dei ["the voice of the people = the voice of God "], as every philosopher knows, cannot be trusted in science. Reason tells me, that if numerous gradations from a simple and imperfect eye to one complex and perfect can be shown to exist, each grade being useful to its possessor, as is certain the case; if further, the eye ever varies and the variations be inherited, as is likewise certainly the case; and if such variations should be useful to any animal under changing conditions of life, then the difficulty of believing that a perfect and complex eye could be formed by natural selection, should not be considered as subversive of the theory."

(And a big of research shows that Darwin did in fact become an agnostic. My bad.)

Answer 4

You can be religious and accept the theory of the evolution of species. Darwin probably did believe in God, but that's irrelevant. Contrary to popular (usually fundie Christian) belief, religion and science can (most of the time) live quite happily side by side.

Answer 5

That's very amusing. It was actually the other way around. He was originally a Christian, but through his observations, he realized that many of the stories in the Bible were false. He didn't stop believing in God, he just didn't believe that all the myths in the Bible were 100% accurate.

Answer 6

Darwin was a Christian already. He never saw any conflict between hios views and Christianity, a wise view that all Christians should consider.

The deathbed recantation bit was propaganda, and has been thoroughly debunked.

Answer 7

You are learning very, very badly then. You should take your teachers to task and make them explain why they tell you things that are not true (and they can't show that they are). For example, if you were to study evolution, people would be able to show you it was true. It is a sure sign of someone who has done no such thing, who says it is not. Am I wrong?

Answer 8

this is not an urban myth: it is a lie.

darwin died an atheist. his atheism had very little to do with the theory of evolution. he was an atheist because the bible clearly contradicted archaeology, and also because he decided that the 'problem of evil' was not satisfactorily solved by any christian thinking he knew.

christians tell lots of lies to support their belief.

what does this tell you about christianity?

Answer 9

No, he did not.

After he died this was a malicious rumour spread by extremist Christians.

The huge irony is that they made the claim that they knew this because he made a deathbed confession of faith to his maid (his family - all still alive and able to tell their story - had clearly said that he had said nothing to them). The problem is that his maid did not speak English.

Amazing the lies Christians will tell, isn't it. Hardly an advert for their faith.

Answer 10

I agree with Pangel.

Besides, we are not arguing on behalf of his religion. It's meaningless when speaking of evolution. You can still be a Christian and believe in the theory.

Answer 11

Some people chose not to believe unless there is proof. I gather many scientists who don't believe in God change their minds when there is just no way to explain something. Sometimes it's hard for others to give themselves over to something they don't understand.
I am very private about my Christianity, I find it hard to promote myself.