Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin (12 February 1809 - 19 April 1883) was a famous naturalist born in England. He is best known for the theory of natural selection which has since been almost universally accepted by biologists as an essential aspect of evolution. The concept is that biological species develop over time via natural selection, branching from common origins. Outside of evolution in particular, he was regarded as an expert on barnacles, as well as being credited with discovering how coral atolls were formed.
General Biography
Charles Darwin was born in Shrewsbury, England in 1809 to his parents Dr. Robert Darwin and Susannah Wedgewood. Darwin's mother was a religious woman but his father was, for the most part, a weak deist. Despite his lack of theistic religious belief, Darwin's father allowed Charles to be baptized into the Anglican Church and encouraged him to become a clergyman. Darwin's mother died in 1817. In 1825 he went on to study medicine at the University of Edinburgh. He was horrified by the brutality of surgery before anesthesia and quit his medical studies. In 1831 he graduated from Christ's College at Cambridge with a BA degree in the classics and theology. On December 27 of the same year he departs on the HMS Beagle for a five year voyage of exploration. The Beagle returns to English shores on October 2 1836. In 1837, Darwin drew his now famous depiction of common ancestry in the form of a branching tree. The following year he discovers the concept of natural selection. Darwin insists that naturally occurring phenomena and factors working together in blind tandem have prodcued nature and eventually mankind. In 1842 he writes out a sketch of his theory but does not publish it. Again, in 1844 he produces what is called an essay of the same theory more developed but does not choose to publish. Finally, in 1859, Darwin publishes his famous theory about how life may have been produced without any aid of a Divine Creator, he titles his work: On The Origin Of Species By Means Of Natural Selection Or The Preservation Of Favoured Races In The Struggle For Life. In 1871, well after his theory enjoyed widespread success, Darwin publishes his ideas on human evolution in a two volume book titled Descent of Man.
Religious Beliefs
Charles Darwin likely abandoned Christianity as a student when he disappointed his father by refusing to become a minister. As an adult he was an atheist[1]. About twenty years later in 1859 (at the age of fifty) Darwin published his famous book The Origin of Species. "In order not to hurt the feelings of his friends and wife, Darwin often used deistic language in his publications" [2]. According to Darwin the "manifestly false history of the world" [3] as recorded in the Old Testament and New Testament miracles led him to reject Biblical veracity [4]. Eminent Darwin biographer, Professor Janet Browne, sums up Darwin's views concerning religion: Darwin "mapped out a comparative evolution of the religious sense, proposing that religious belief was ultimately nothing more than a primitive urge to bestow a cause on otherwise inexplicable natural events...In short, he made no secret of his view that he did not believe religion to have any rational foundation at all" [5]. When he died in 1882 at the age of seventy-three, Darwin was buried at Westminster Abbey next to Sir Isaac Newton.
There exists in hostile Darwin literature a story about a Christian called Lady Hope who visited and spoke with a dying Charles Darwin. While this much is true, it remains controversial whether Darwin made a death-bed repentance to Lady Hope.
References
1. Mayr, Ernst One Long Argument (1991:75)
2. Ibid. (1991:75).
3. Barlow, Nora (editor) The Autobiography of Charles Darwin (1958:85).
4. Ibid. (1958:85-87).
5. Browne, Janet Charles Darwin The Power of Place (2002:341)