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 Darwin's 200th anniversary of his birth....what are we saying about him?

Everyone must surely be aware that this is the year for remembering Charles Darwin: the 200th anniversary of his birth and 150th of the publication of his famous book The Origin of Species. A spate of books and articles have already appeared along with Andrew Marr's excellent BBC programmes. We can expect that because of Darwin's local association he will have a prominent place at this year's Ilkley Literary Festival.

 

 

For many Christians Darwin is regarded as one of Satan's chief disciples because of his convictions about biological evolution which are alleged to have undermined belief in God as the Creator of the universe. Battles between science and religion are still being fought, notably in America. As Andrew Marr noted, the fathers of atheistic Communism and Fascism seized on the theory of the "survival of the fittest" to pursue their brutal policies in the twentieth century. But was Darwin such a monster?

 

 

In a fascinating book of only 146 pages, Darwin and God, recently published by SPCK, Nick Spencer, director of studies at the Theos Centre in Cambridge, charts the story of Darwin's life and work. His method is to let Darwin speak for himself as revealed in his letters and personal reflections as well as his better-known books. As Spencer himself comments it is really a drama of three acts - (i) Darwin as Christian; (ii) as Deist; (iii) as agnostic.

 

 

Darwin initially planned to be ordained into the Anglican ministry but his intellectual honesty prevented such a step. He himself stated that he was "a sort of Christian", by which he meant that he accepted the conventional theological outlook of many of his contemporaries. But he was stranger to a vital personal faith in Christ and had no understanding of the place of the Cross in daily life. Thus his faith was unable to survive his greatest personal crisis, the death at the age of 10 of his favourite daughter Annie. One can only speculate as to whether this was as much responsible for his subsequent agnosticism as his actual scientific research and conclusions.

 

 

Throughout the rest of his life, Darwin remained more than sympathetic to Christianity and retained close friendships with many Christian colleagues as well as fellow agnostics. He warmly supported the ministry of his local parish of Downe, among other responsibilities acting as overseer of the parish schoolroom. When and evangelist, James Fegan, requested the use of the room to hold revival meetings Darwin not only granted permission but later told him "Your services have done more for the village in a few months than all our efforts for many years. Through your services I do not know that there is a drunkard left in the village." All Saints' Ilkley, as a supporting parish of the South American Missionary Society, should note that Darwin was an honorary member of the Society to which he gave regular donations, having been impressed by the material as well as spiritual development of Indian converts in Tierra del Fuego.

 

 

In one other respect Darwin has a relevant message for our own generation. He remained as courteous and respectful to those who held religious convictions as he was to fellow agnostics. He famously declared "There is no reason why the disciples of either school should attack each other with bitterness". Professor Dawkins and his supporters, and fervent church writers to national and local papers, please take note!

 

 

Pat Dearnley

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