Darwin at Downe

The naturalist Charles Darwin would have turned 200 last week. That occasion is being marked in various ways. A recent article in Episcopal Life Evolution and Faith in Dialogue presents ways in which people of faith struggle with the results of Darwin's life work. That article considers how "an acceptance of evolution is entirely compatible with an authentic and living Christian faith."

Another angle on the naturalist is found here Darwin at Downe, a web page covering Darwin's ongoing involvement in his parish church of St. Marys in the village of Downe in Kent, where he lived for the last 40 years of his life. Darwin was heavily involved with local community organisations, such as the Coal and Clothing Fund, and was the co-founder of a Friendly Club to which local people subscribed for assurance of assistance in times of financial hardship. He served as its treasurer for over 30 years.

His parish priest described him saying,

He is a man of the most perfect moral character, and his scrupulous regard for the strictest truth is above that of almost all men I know. I am quite persuaded that if on any morning he met with a fact which would clearly contradict one of his cherished theories he would not let the sun set before he made it known. I never saw a word in his writings which was an attack on Religion.

There is no doubt that Darwin's observation have presented challenges to the faith of many. And we know from Darwin himself that his work moved him toward disbelief. As Darwin wrote himself,

In my Journal I wrote that whilst standing in the midst of the grandeur of a Brazilian forest: ‘It is not possible to give an adequate idea of the higher feelings of wonder, admiration, and devotion, which fill and elevate the mind.’ I well remember my conviction that there is more in man than the mere breath of his body. But now the grandest scenes would not cause any such convictions and feelings to rise in my mind.”

He seems like a man who wanted to continue to believe in the Christianity of his youth, but his scientific work barred the way. And yet he continued to be actively involved in his parish church and the good he saw it could do. Too bad, that Darwin, could not, as so many other scientists have done, found a way to reconcile his faith and his scientific worldview. The two need not have been incompatible. This is covered in an article by the Rev, Malcolm Brown, Good religion needs good science at the same Church of England website as the one making the Darwin at Downe connection.