Was Darwin Actually an Atheist?

Dr. Jitse Van der Meer, Professor of Biology, Redeemer University College.
He was baptized in the Anglican church but his mother took him to a Unitarian chapel in Shewsbury. Unitarians don't believe in the divinity of Christ, they only believe in the existence of God. Darwin absorbed that idea when he was young and when you read his stuff, also his private notebooks and his correspondence which I think are more important sources for this kind of information than his public...But in his private notebooks you do find clear indications that he believed in a God who was at a distance from what happens in the worst, a sort of Deistic God. A God who is not involved in the nitty-gritty of creating every single plant and animal precisely as it exists now in exactly the location where it exists but a God who does that by means of natural law. The interesting thing is that is still a different idea of design involved because God designs by means of natural law, not by means of direct involvement. He did believe in the existence of God but a very heterodox kind of God, I think you could not call that a Christian notion of God because Christian notions of God always involve Jesus Christ.

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[ivlfounder]

@blazereef

Like it or not science has proven we do all share a common ancestor.

It's even more interesting though that the oldest Gospel makes no mention of genealogy.

[blazereef]

@ivlfounder actually, i do think most religions are incompatible with religion, atleast christianity for example because it has a geneology of jesus from adam and eve, if evolution is true then the bible says that jesus came from a fable, either jesus is not real (most christians would not like that) or the bible is wrong or the main part of the bible is not literal however the beleif in god, is not incompatible with evolution

[TheAmazingSatirist]

@ivlfounder

That is simply not true.

[ivlfounder]

@TheAmazingSatirist

Even if that is true today most clergymen think religion and evolution are compatible where as atheists believe evolution and belief in God to be in conflict.

[TheAmazingSatirist]

@ivlfounder

"For some reason many atheists consider belief in evolution and belief in God to be in conflict."

No. This idea was first proposed by clergy men.

[ivlfounder]

Dawkins' disagrees with your first claim.

And that you look down on Christians is obvious.

[TheGreaterGood80]

ivlfounder, more often than not it appears that is the christians(specifically in America), not the atheists, who consider belief in god and belief in evolution in conflict. It's ironic that this mistrust and misunderstanding doesn't extend to believing that the heliocentric theory and god are in conflict, or something like that.

Considering the vast majority of Americans would never vote for an atheist in office, I'd say that the "hate filled ones" are not the faithless

[ivlfounder]

Neither Stalin's private statements about religion nor his murderess campaigns against religion support your claim.

I am interested to know where you came across the likely lie that he prayed as an adult.

[ivlfounder]

Where ever Martin Luther King went I suspect is a far better place than where ever Stalin went.

[ivlfounder]

For some reason many atheists consider belief in evolution and belief in God to be in conflict.

What's more many also look down at or even hate those who believe in God.

Were it ever proven that Darwin believed in God these hate filled atheists would have to decide between attacking Darwin's ideas or letting go of their hate.