Thursday, November 18, 2010

Darwin's religious views during marriage

After returning from the Voyage of the Beagle, Darwin married to his cousin Emma Wedgwood Darwin. Emma was religious and believed in God, Bible, and life after death. At the time they got married, their beliefs about Christianity were different. Emma was a Unitarianism, which was in contrast with Trinity. However, Darwin was uncertain about God's existence and discussed his beliefs with Emma. The couple would socialize with clergymen such as James Martineau and John James Taylor.  They would read the work of some authors such as Francis William Newman who believed that Phases of faith described a journey from Calvinism to theism. Darwin read Newman's book during his daughter's illness. In spite of Darwin's relation to these clergymen and Emma's religious point of views, he gradually stopped going to church after his daughter's illness and tended to become agnostic after theorizing his ideas about transmutation of species. Also, he lost his faith about the existence of life after death.

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