Darwin's faith

Did the great scientist, who changed the way we see the world, believe in God?


Charles Darwin 1875, H.P. Robinson/Bettmann/Corbis

For a man whose life's work has done more to challenge religion than anything in science, it is surprisingly difficult to find out what Charles Darwin actually thought about God.

As his fame grew internationally following publication of "On the Origin of Species" Darwin received numerous letters from people asking where his theory left their faith. His replies were always polite, brief and pretty unsatisfactory.

For example, in 1866 he wrote to one such correspondent:

"It would have gratified me much if I could have sent satisfactory answers to your questions...My opinion is not worth more than any other man who has thought on the subject"

"He doesn't - with rare exceptions - say anything about his own beliefs or about the implications of his theory for religious belief in any of his published writing," said Paul White at Cambridge University, who is an editor at the Darwin Correspondence Project. Dr White was speaking on Tuesday about Darwin's faith at a conference on science and religion at Lancaster University.

There are hints though in Darwin's letters. For example, his devout wife Emma wrote of a "painful void" that could open up between them because of his religious doubts.

And in a letter to John Fordyce in 1879 he wrote:

"In my most extreme fluctuations I have never been an atheist in the sense of denying the existence of a God. I think that generally, and more and more so as I grow older - but not always - that an agnostic would be the more correct description of my state of mind"

Maybe his public reticence on the subject was simply because he wasn't sure himself!

Certainly, Darwin did not feel he was particularly qualified to comment. "He clearly didn't feel that he was a religious authority," said Dr White, "He didn't feel that his own personal beliefs should be the basis for other people's beliefs."

I wonder what he would have made of the modern arguments over his theory.

Listen to Paul White talking about Darwin's struggles with faith.