Why an Atheist Thinks the Shroud of Turin is the Real Deal

Reaction to Darwin

It may strike some as ironic that both of these men are buried in the nave of London’s Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, informally know as Westminster Abbey. They are there, especially honored for their accomplishments in science. It is fitting also, for they have had as much influence on modern Christian thinking as on modern science. Recently, Nature, in an editorial (October,  2009), commented on reactions to Darwin.

In England, for example, the Church reacted badly to Darwin’s theory, going so far as to say that to believe it was to imperil your soul. But the notion that Darwin’s ideas ‘killed’ God and were a threat to religion was by no means the universal response in the nineteenth century. . . . [F]rom Egypt to India, China and Japan, many religious scholars embraced Darwin's ideas, often showing how their own schools of thought had anticipated the notion of evolution. -Editorial from Nature, Volume 461 Number 7268

Yes, some in the Church reacted badly. This was particularly so in the Church of England, part of the Anglican Communion, the “Church” in particular to which the editors of Nature were certainly referring. But they overstated what happened. Darwin’s theory was more of a culture shock than a religious shock. It was more about resistance to change than an inability to accommodate evolution within Christianity. Darwin, after a choral funeral service in the Abbey,  was buried in a prominent place in the church’s nave at the request of William Spottiswoode, the president of the Royal Society, Britain’s academy of science. The suggestion was warmly welcomed.

Darwin, truly a humble agnostic, was very much admired, and his theory accepted by many in the church including, Harvey Goodwin,  the bishop of Carlisle, who on the Sunday following Darwin’s funeral in a sermon preached in the abbey, said:

It would have been unfortunate if anything had occurred to give weight and currency to the foolish notion which some have diligently propagated, but for which Mr Darwin was not responsible, that there is a necessary conflict between a knowledge of Nature and a belief in God….