pz

Creationists often point to the last sentence of Darwin's Origin to claim that he had acknowledged the existence of god. It's a beautiful sentence, very well known and often quoted:Well, I was spending my Christmas day browsing through Janet Browne's excellent biography of Darwin, and happened to run across an enlightening letter from Darwin to Hooker. In it, he says,Smart guy, that Darwin. Not only was he agnostic, but he understood the necessary distinction between evolution, abiogenesis, and the origins of the physical universe. Now if only we could get the creationists to appreciate the same...

tgamble

They do? It's my experience that they blather on about how Darwin was an atheist who hated God and wanted to get rid of him which is why he invented the lie of evolution blah blah blah.

It's how they remain consistent with the claim that evolution = atheism and how evolution says there is no god etc. etc.

Bubba

I think your correct, Darwin was really more of an agnostic than an athiest.

Bubba

ruby-soho

Howdy, all!! I'm new here to the Infidels board but I've been participating at the CreationTalk and NAiG boards. Bubba, you'll know me as David at CreationTalk. Anyways, nice to be here.

I would agree, Bubba. An agnostic would be an apt description of Darwin.

Respectfully,

D

Bubba

Welcome to infidels R/S. Feel free to introduce yourself in the welcome section.

I can assure you the discussion here is first rate. I only wish that Evolskeptic had taken up Rufus offer of debate.

Bubba

butswana

Just the other day while reading an article in National Geographic, the author used the term "designed" when refering to the physical characteristics of some animal.
I'm suprised that some creationist hasn't claimed that the BBC's Walking with Dinosaurs is advocating creationism(or ID) because some of the paleontologists on the "making of" DVD refer to some physiological trait as "designed".
They need to be more careful with their wording. Don't need to just hand these fuckers any ammo, even if it is a blank.

Synaesthesia

Damnation. Jesus gave us platitudes and Darwin solved the mystery of the meanin of life.


Who's birthday do we celebrate? *sigh*

Bubba

I would disagree. Darwin didn't give us the meaning of life, he demonstrated how life changed and developed over time.

Lots of people who believe in evolution would disagree about the meaning of life.

In Darwin

Bubba

Bill

Darwin's closest friend, and biggest supporter (during his life), was Thomas Henry Huxley, who coined the word "agnostic," but who had this to say about his own beliefs: I've read a couple of book-length biographies of Darwin and I can assure you that he never publicly commented on his personal religious beliefs (unlike Huxley, who publicly debated the fundamentalists of his day, like the several-times Prime Minister, Gladstone). The usual reason for refusing to do so is generally stated as it would have greatly upset Darwin's wife, who was very devout, and who gained great comfort from her religious beliefs when it came to thinking abouyt the loss of her young children.

Accordingly, I would personally classify Darwin as an "apathetic" rather than either an atheist or an agnostic. Darwin basically didn't give a damn, one way or the other, about religion.

== Bill

emotional

Darwin had this to say about Christianity:

I agree 100%. Fortunately, Darwin himself, through his theory, provided the antidote to this diabolical religion.