With the celebration of Darwin Day still ringing in my ears, it was curious that one person mentioned to me about Darwin's conversion on his deathbed to christianity.
It's taken a few days for me to give it the consideration it deserves. I have given a few links at the bottom of this article (neutral, atheist and religious).
Number 1: The story has been discredited. All the evidence available suggests that this was a extremely unlikely event. Lady Hope seems a rather biased witness and members of Darwin's own family, who were present, deny such an event took place.
Number 2: Even if he did, so what? The evidence for evolution is still intact. Creationism is still a ridiculous conclusion as an alternative.
Sadly a desperate attempt to discredit a great man's life work. Yet, even today, there are people who still propogate this lie as a 'fact' to prove they are right. (Top tip - At least have the courtesy to do a tiny bit of research first.)
And finally... Some of my family are religious. If it helped them, then I would agree to a full blown, bells and whistles, super lovely christian funeral. I WOULD BE DEAD so it wouldn't matter to me. Sad to think that they might consider me spit roasted on a red hot poker suffering eternal torment if I didn't. :-)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deathbed_conversion
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Hope
http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CG/CG001.html
http://brethrenassembly.com/archives/692
http://www.creationtips.com/darwinconversion.htm
Hats off to Richard Dawkins who says that he wants his death recorded so there will be no possible accustaion of a deathbed conversion. ;-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzZ7VkDGuPc
Thursday, 19 February 2009
2 comments:
Comments are unmoderated (free speech and all that) but I have decided to take off anonymous posting. If I can stick my head over the parapet, then common decency suggests that anyone wishing to debate should at least introduce themselves. :-)
Thanks. And feel free to comment about anything!
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If you are an atheist then you wouldn't have a christian funeral! You are an agnostic.
ReplyDeleteOh yes I am. I don't believe in fictional powers that created existence. I don't believe in a christian god. So I am an atheist. The point I am making is that when I am dead I don't care what happens to my body (I would prefer it would provide organs for people and my family know that) but if it would soften the (obviously tragic) death of myself for them, then they could arrange a christian funeral for me, vainly hoping that I might spend a pleasant eternity in one of the many possible heavens.
ReplyDeleteMost of my family respect my atheism and I am 99% sure I will get some humanist service anyway. I'll still be dead so it doesn't really matter to me. (Funerals are for the relatives, after all.)
Hope that helps. :-)