200 Lost Years

Shrewsbury, the county town of Shropshire, is well worth a visit. It is an attractive market town on the banks of the River Severn, on the English side of the border with Wales. Many major historical events have taken place in or around the town. In the twelfth century it was the centre of that period of civil war known as the Anarchy, as the forces of King Stephen and Empress Matilda battled for control. In 1403, the Battle of Shrewsbury was fought between Henry IV and the combined rebel forces of Henry “Hotspur” Percy, the Duke of Northumberland, and the Welsh Prince Owain Glyndwr. But despite these associations, one historical event seems to have shaped Shrewsbury’s place in the world more than any other—the birth, on February 12, 1809, of Charles Darwin.

It has often been assumed that Darwin started off as a Bible-believing Christian who later rejected his faith because of the scientific discoveries he had made. Nothing could be further from the truth. Although Darwin’s father, Robert Waring Darwin, was a member of St. Chad’s Church, Shrewsbury, his Anglicanism was for society purposes only. Charles Darwin’s biographer, Janet Browne, suggests that Robert Darwin was actually an atheist.

This would be in keeping with the views of Robert’s own father, Erasmus. Erasmus Darwin, together with Josiah Wedgwood, of pottery fame, and a few others, formed the Lunar Society in 1765. This society, which met once a month, held views strongly in sympathy with French Revolutionaries—particularly the atheist Jacobins. Erasmus Darwin had also published his own theory of evolution, in his book, Zoonomia. Josiah Wedgwood’s daughter, Susannah, married Robert Darwin and, so, was Charles’s mother.

Susannah Darwin, like most of the other Wedgwoods, was a Unitarian. She took the young Charles to Shrewsbury Unitarian Church, which can still be found in the town centre. Unitarians, while claiming to be within the Christian fold, deny the deity of Jesus and the truth of Scripture. They also believe that truth can be found in many other religions, as well as absorbing many humanist influences. The young Charles Darwin’s first school was one that was run by the minister of the Unitarian Church.

Nineteenth-century Britain was ripe for a rejection of the Bible. The liberal intelligentsia had already rejected much of scriptural truth. With Darwin’s background, his ideas were not really radical—he was a child of his times. Perhaps the main reason why Britain had not followed France into the anarchy of Revolution was because of the great revival sent by God through the preaching of John Wesley, George Whitfield, and others in the 18th century. That godly legacy led to all the great reforming laws, such as the abolition of slavery and child labour.

But this legacy was squandered. An evolutionary survival-of-the-fittest attitude to society itself has led the nation of Great Britain—and much of the world—away from biblical principles. Charles Darwin’s legacy is a nation which scorns the God who made the world.

Paul Taylor,
Senior Speaker, AiG–U.K.
Listen to Paul Taylor’s Darwin Thought for the Day.

Find Out More

• Year of Darwin: A Creation Perspective
• Is Natural Selection the Same Thing as Evolution?
• Hasn’t Evolution Been Proven True?
• Can Natural Processes Explain the Origin of Life?
• Are Mutations Part of the “Engine” of Evolution?
• Did Dinosaurs Turn into Birds?
• Did Humans Really Evolve from Apelike Creatures?
• Are There Really Different Races?
• Where Did the Idea of “Millions of Years” Come From?
• What Is Science?
• How Old Is the Earth?
• The Ghost of Darwin