Their talk turned to religion, and Darwin said "I never gave up Christianity until I was forty years of age." He agreed that Christianity was "not supported by the evidence", but he had reached this conclusion only slowly. Aveling recorded this discussion, and published it in 1883 as a
penny pamphlet.
[75][76] Francis Darwin thought it gave "quite fairly his impressions of my father's views, but took issue with any suggestion of similar religious views, saying "My father's replies implied his preference for the unaggressive attitude of an Agnostic. Dr. Aveling seems to regard the absence of aggressiveness in my father's views as distinguishing them in an unessential manner from his own. But, in my judgment, it is precisely differences of this kind which distinguish him so completely from the class of thinkers to which Dr. Aveling belongs."
[77]
Darwin's
Westminster Abbey funeral expressed a public feeling of national pride, and religious writers of all persuasions praised his "noble character and his ardent pursuit of truth", calling him a "true Christian gentleman". In particular the
Unitarians and free religionists, proud of his Dissenting upbringing, supported his naturalistic views. The Unitarian
William Carpenter carried a resolution praising Darwin's unravelling of "the immutable laws of the Divine Government", shedding light on "the progress of humanity", and the Unitarian preacher
John White Chadwick from
New York wrote that "The nation's grandest temple of religion opened its gates and lifted up its everlasting doors and bade the King of Science come in."
Darwin decided to leave a posthumous memoir for his family, and on Sunday 28 May 1876 he began
Recollections of the Development of my mind and character. He found this candid private memoir easy going, covering his childhood, university, life on the
Beagle expedition and developing work in science. A section headed "Religious Belief" opened just before his marriage, and frankly discussed his long disagreement with Emma. At first he had been unwilling to give up his faith, and had tried to "invent evidence" supporting the Gospels, but just as his clerical career had died a slow "natural death", so too did his belief in "Christianity as a divine revelation". "Inward convictions and feelings" had arisen from natural selection, as had survival instincts, and could not be relied on. He was quick to show Emma's side of the story and pay tribute to "your mother, so infinitely my superior in every moral quality... my wise adviser and cheerful comforter".
The Autobiography of Charles Darwin was published posthumously, and quotes about Christianity were omitted by Darwin's wife
Emma and his son
Francis because they were deemed dangerous for Charles Darwin's reputation. Only in 1958 Darwin's granddaughter
Nora Barlow published a revised version which contained the omissions.
[78] This included statements discussed above in
Autobiography on gradually increasing disbelief, and others such as the following:...
