[Tell It Right]

"But something about Nietzsche's writings in particular were...violent and self-destructive in nature."

Bingo! And one could argue that Darwin pushed belief in natural selection not so much to "prove" God doesn't exist or change the nature in which we think of or origin, but to try to slow down the growing abolitionist movement that the church was pushing. The thinking was that if you undermine the Christian belief that God exists, you undermine their push to love God and love your fellow man by freeing God's creation from slavery.

[Lurking Libertarian]

And one could argue that Darwin pushed belief in natural selection not so much to "prove" God doesn't exist or change the nature in which we think of or origin, but to try to slow down the growing abolitionist movement that the church was pushing. The thinking was that if you undermine the Christian belief that God exists, you undermine their push to love God and love your fellow man by freeing God's creation from slavery.

Darwin was a Whig and supported the abolition of slavery.