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I concede to both of you that Darwin himself did not express an “origin of the universe” in his work “The Origin of Species”, but, though he was reluctant to commit to the spontaneous generation of life from organic or inorganic matter, he did, in some of his correspondence, at least say that he thought that science would one day prove that the origin of life was accomplished by some natural process, not special creation.

A good source for his letters is at the following website:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2745620/

Further, I have already said at least three times, that I don’t hold Darwin responsible for what eugenics advocates or the Nazi’s did in his name - but, I do hold that Darwin’s ideas that all species came from a single ancestor and that the process of evolution was an undirected, natural process - that idea implies the non-necessity of God.

It’s true Darwin did not say that God did not exist and he would not commit to saying that the origin of the original single organism wasn’t specially created. He did express that he was open to the idea that organic life could one day be proven to have come from inorganic material (see his letters). That doesn’t mean he was committed to that idea, but you must admit that the modern scientific view of “Darwinian” evolution is one that leaves God out of the picture. He is unnecessary.

The modern scientific naturalist today is a Darwinist, not a creationist. Stephen Hawking, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, etc. the so-called “new atheists” are all Darwinian and all are believers in the view that the universe has a natural explanation. The meaning of Darwinist in the modern sense is NOT creationist, nor “intelligent design”.

So while you are correct that Darwin did not postulate a theory for the origin of the universe, the modern idea of biology and the evolution of species and the emergence of the universe are strongly rooted in the belief that all have natural explanations. Darwin’s natural selection was the unguided, natural process of evolutionary development of all organisms - no god needed, and, if that’s true, then why not a natural explanation for the universe itself?

Whether he intended to or not, in the minds of most modern scientists, Darwin removed the need for God. You and I both know that this had a tremendous influence not only on science, but also on morality and religion. Darwin removed God from the creation process therefore, as Nietzsche stated, he “killed God” and all that goes with that. Darwin may never have intended that, but his ideas led to that.

His idea that all organisms are derived/evolved from a single organism removed the specialness of human beings. Are you saying that Darwin’s evolutionary theory does not reduce humanity to the same level as all other organisms?

Doesn’t Darwin’s theory posit that man is simply another somewhat successful evolutionary mutation? And, that humanity is no greater in value than any other evolved specie? These are all ideas that have moral consequences - do you deny that? Darwin’s idea that all life evolved naturally from the same simple organism - do you deny that that influences the value of human life and moral belief?

If so, well, I guess we just disagree.