Reports of Darwin's Deathbed Conversion Have Been Greatly Exagerrated

Use the plagiarism checker at Grammarly.com, because cheating is for losers.

It's an enduring tale that we've all heard: while Charles Darwin laid on his deathbed he threw out his own ideas about evolution and accepted Christianity. It makes for an interesting story, but it's completely false.

The tale was made up by Elizabeth Cotton (also known as "Lady Hope" for some reason). She claimed to have visited Darwin on his deathbed where she saw him reading his Bible and complaining about people taking his theories too seriously. (The story can be read in its original version at Wikipedia.) According to Cotton, Darwin told her that he was wrong about evolution and wanted her to tell his friends and family about Jesus. The story reads like a tall tale, complete with emotional appeals and unrealistic dialogue. And are we really expected to believe that Darwin wanted to discredit all of his life's work and that Elizabeth Cotton was the only person he told?

Darwin's family has always denied the stories of his deathbed conversions. Since many of his family members were Believers they probably would have wanted Cotton's story to be true (at least the part about him finding Christ), but they never supported Elizabeth Cotton's claims and neither have any independent historians.

Charles Darwin is a poorly understood person. He was not an atheist, and he did not consider evolution to be at odds with the church. Plenty of people think his work was pitted against religion (like the people who visit my site and tell me that Darwin "killed God"), but he didn't see it that way. Darwin enjoyed doing science for the sake of understanding the world around him, and he wasn't out to change anyone's religion. Charles Darwin specifically stated that his scientific notions were not a challenge to religion, but people don't like to remember that part.

I've had the pleasure of reading some of his correspondence and discovered among them some rather interesting statements about religion. In a letter to a friend, he says that he attended a presentation of Handel's Messiah and laments that his soul is too "dried up" to appreciate it. In another, his wife wishes he would return to seminary, but understands that he isn't able to go back there. None of these things are explained, at all, but it certainly paints a picture of man who's religious journey was more complex than we like to think.

humanitarian relief

if i'm just a walking sac
of chemicals, then there's no
such thing as miracles
and caring isn't caring; just synapses
flaring—so tell me, why should i care?

movies end happily, but i can't

for the life of me understand—if
God is dead,
what’s the hurry? why all
this cumbersome worry?
there's no referent and nothing
is definite; so do as you please; forget
poverty, education, disease.

please
tell me why—why
i should care; 
pack my bags and go
over there; pay
plane, bus and taxi
fare? so what
if children don't
eat and people can't
walk down the street without
rape, AIDS, pregnancy to meet?

i get the green thing. i have to live
in this space with all the rest
of this evolving race. but there's no
Telos so Darwin tells us—so why
should i care?

‘cause apparently, we ain't
goin' nowhere.

so i decided i don't care. but
i can't. i mean, just listen
to this rant. there's
care there.
care's there from the start,
presupposing
Science and Art; care
recessed, repressed in
my blood-rent heart.

things aren't
the way they're
supposed to be,
and the Story
of Biology is not
sufficient—they say we're
here on accident but
i need more.

i need more in order
to account
for this life as we live
it. look around and see
people caring, friend and neighbor
sharing—poverty, injustice repairing.
there's care there.

people don't love wholly
right, even when striving with all
our light: we withhold, we
withdraw, we fight; we harbor
anger, we brandish pride; we've all
of us murdered and lied; selfishly denied
truth, justice, mercy.

and yet
there's Care there.
Care echoes
in our tomes, re-
calling
to our breath
and bones
our Original
Shimmering
Start—pulsating,
all along,
in our heart.

(c) Renea McKenzie, 2014

The line breaks have been reworked since this poem's original publishing at Probe.org (which for some reason is still published under wrong title; the title was never "humanitarian aid"). At any rate, the new line breaks (I hope) add layers of meaning and emphasis.

The Southern Baptist Meets the Evolutionist...and Finds Out He's Really OK!

A few weeks ago I was able to attend a lecture by the well known biologist Sean B. Carroll. You may not have heard of him, but in the field of evolutionary development he is Elvis Presley. I got to hang out with him before and after the lecture and was very impressed with him. If I accomplish nothing else in this blog post, I want to establish that I have a great amount of respect for this Darwinian evolutionist. He describes himself as "a kid just trying to have fun" and he is very warm and upbeat in his dealings with people.

He gave us a fantastic description of Darwin and how he developed theories that seemed to decry special creation (as it was understood at the time).

Darwin was sailing near the Galapagos Islands hoping to check out a nearby volcano (he had been trained as a geologist and was also preparing to enter a seminary) when he made his well known observations. While visiting the Galapagos he noticed that the same species on two different islands had developed differently, which was something that, at the time, was not allowed under the theory of special creation. Being sensitive to the religious, Darwin would lightly promote his findings, in conjunction with similar finding of other biologists, without pressing the matter in a way that would offend the church.

While listening to this lecture, something occurred to me. Despite everything I have been taught, there is nothing about this I find unbiblical. I do not believe that God must hold each planet in place; I think He created gravity to do that. I also don't think he had to form each creature by hand, I think it's possible he allowed creatures to evolve as part of the complex biology He placed in them. You don't have to be convinced that it happened this way, but I don't see how it creates any theological problems.

Now, let's get a few things clear:

• I believe that the Bible is without error...
• ...that God created man in His image...
• ...and, that everything in the Bible happened just as it says.

That said, Darwin doesn't bother me. Maybe we should re-think our militant stance against him. Obviously, I cannot explain my entire point of view on Darwin and evolution in a single blog post, but I can ask us to be kind to this scientist, who was always kind to Christians and never set out to debunk any of their beliefs. Let's return the favor and not tarnish his image.