Replies

Darwin rejected his own theories of evolution before he died.

Simply not true. Who told you that?

If you choose not to believe this then so be it.

It's not a question of "belief." It's a question of fact. There is no evidence to support your assertion, aside from the stories of the evangelist "Lady Hope." Those claims, first made 30 years after the fact, have never been supported and have been disavowed by Darwin's own children. That lack of any documentation, witness or supporting evidence whatsoever, plus the fact that "Lady Hope" was an evangelist who had certain motive to distort Darwin's views for her own agenda, have resulted in those stories being debunked by virtually every historian.

You may want to believe that it happened, but that belief doesn't mean that it did. History doesn't work that way any more than science does.

I have just spent a little bit of time, reading some articles about this 'notion' that Charles Darwin recanted his theory of evolution, as witnessed by this Lady Hope...

I have read several different articles, and they all seem to agree, that this story is just a made up fairy tale, but perhaps has a few little facts upon which the whole story was cooked up...

Lady Hope was a tent evangelist, known for her colorful stories of conversions that she had implemented, and her pure enjoyment of telling these stories, was a well known fact...a Dr. James Moore, who is a lecturer in the History of Science and Technology, is a biographer of Charles Darwin, and has spent 20yrs researching Darwin and this story about Darwin supposedly recanting his theory of evolution...

What follows, is what Dr. Moores 20yrs of research have shown...

According to Darwins daughter who was present when Darwin died, Lady Hope never, ever visited Darwin on his deathbed, and she, the daughter was unaware that Lady Hope had ever seen Darwin...

However, Moore goes on to say, that it is possible that Lady Hope did visit Darwin, but at a time, 6 months before he died...this would have been at a time, when Darwins daughter was not present in the Darwin household...but at this time, Darwin was not on his deathbed as described by Lady Hope..apparently 6 months before he died, Darwin was up and about, not malingering in bed...also the little meeting that Lady Hope claims that she held in the summer house, for Darwin, included some 30 people who were all in the summer house, which according to Moore, is impossible, because the summer house was very tiny, and Lady Hope did state that the 30 people gathered were all in the summer house...but more importantly than that, Darwins wife Emma, would have been present at this time...and Emma, often worried a little bit, about how Darwin and his theory were perceived as being anti-religious...it would have been to Emmas great advantage to claim that Darwin recanted his theory of evolution...but she did not...why?..because she knew it never happened...

So neither Darwins daughter who was present with Darwin when he was on his deathbed, nor his wife, who was with Darwin, when it is possible that a Lady Hope did visit, ever claimed that Darwin recanted, because they both knew that such a thing never happened...

So Dr. Moore believes that it is possible that Lady Hope might have visited Darwin, but certainly not when she claimed she did, nor was Darwin in the condition she claimed that he was...and it seems quite certain from Moores research, that Lady Hope, in an attempt to make her attempts at converting people seem very important, she embroidered a 'fairy tale',...the only real fact in her story seems to be that she 'may' have visited Charles Darwin...that seems to be the only real fact in her story...

But apparently it was to her great advantage to claim that her efforts did indeed make Darwin recant...thereby, she could draw even bigger crowds to her tent evangelizing projects, by having claimed that 'she'(important gal that she was), got that bad old Charles Darwin to recant...what better way to boost up the crowds, and the collection plate...

Sorry to have told this story, it was long one, but it was especially for 'Conservative Blonde'(and all those who might be interested in this story)I felt if I gave a link, CB would refuse to link onto it...thus I retold what my research has shown...

ConservativeBlonde...you have stated that you have known for so long that Darwin recanted his story...I think you were fed a 'fairy tale' and failed in researching what you were told...of course, you can always claim that this Dr. James Moore, a Darwin Biographer, and a researcher into the actual 'facts' of Darwins life for more than 20 years, is nothing but a fraud, or some such nonsense...Thats your choice...you can believe the Darwin recant story all you want...but you have been given links by others, as to the falsity of the Darwin recant, and you might want to do a little more research on your own, if you have the inquisitiveness to find out the 'truth' of the matter, ,rather than rely on something someone told to you long ago...