When Charles Darwin was asked permission to dedicate a book authored by an Atheist to the name of "Charles Darwin," Darwin declined out of respect for his Christian family. He states:
"I should prefer the Part or Volume not to be dedicated to me (though I thank you for the intended honour) as this implies to a certain extent my approval of the general publication, about which I know nothing... direct arguments against christianity and theism produce hardly any effect on the public... It has, therefore, always been my object to avoid writing on religion, & I have confined myself to science. I may, however, have been unduly biased by the pain which it would give some members of my family, if I aided in any way direct attacks on religion.— I am sorry to refuse you any request"
Darwin himself apparently was enlightened enough on the matter, to understand "Science" itself takes no stand on matters of religion. Even expressing in his written correspondence (above) that the author was seeking "a direct attack on religion," which Darwin would have no part of.
Charles Darwin never denied the existence of God, nor did his theory dismiss the existence of God.
So, where does all the toxic Atheism that is associated with modern Darwinism come from? The man who sent Darwin his book,
Das Kapital... Karl Marx, author of the Communist Manifesto. Marxists latched their fangs into
Darwin's Origin of the Species, like a vampire... yes, poisoning whatever good may have been in Darwin's studies into actual science and paleontology.
Communist Posters of the Day portray Karl Marx' book, above Charles Darwin, as well as that of Ferdinand Lasalle, a respected social reformer who openly denounced Karl Marx' theories.
Images extracted from video series, "The Bloody History of Communism" which attempts to lay blame on Charles Darwin as the main culprit behind the bloody history of Communism. Evil Atheists like Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, etc would have continued on their bloody warmongering path.. with or without Darwin's theory.
One would think Darwinism has became quite like a religion and built on theories, instead of empirical facts... filling in unknowns on faith... with few or even no facts to substantiate some of the wild claims found floating around. Many forget,
Darwinists themselves, are not scientists. The theory of Natural Selection was only godless enough to permit Atheists to camouflage their toxic bigotry against God and people of faith, under the guise of "Science".
Quite earnestly, the toxic element comes from Marxists who attempted to latch on to Darwin's theory... distributing misleading posters, portraying Darwin's book,
Origin of the Species, alongside that of Karl Marx. Just as these Marxists latched on to the success of the socialist reformer Ferdinand Lassalle, parading posters of Marx alongside Lasalle to give the misleading impression Lassalle supported Marx... but in fact, Lasalle had denounced the violent, murderous revolutionary element in Karl Marx' theories. Ferdinand Lasalle was considered a respectable, progressive thinker of the time, whose mild socialist reforms were embraced and implemented by the German Empire. Karl Marx could not achieve that same respect for his warmongering political theories.
So, we pick up at
this interesting piece of history where Charles Darwin was sent a copy of Karl Marx' book, but never even bothered to read it. Darwin's lack of interest in toxic atheism is duly noted.
Marx genuinely admired Darwin's Origin, despite its crude English style. He even sent Darwin a personally inscribed copy of the recently published second edition of Das Kapital in 1873. Darwin's letter of acknowledgment (quoted above) delighted Marx, who used it as proof that the great scientist appreciated his work. In fact, Darwin, ever the gentleman (and no German scholar), was merely being polite: he never read Marx's book, the vast majority of whose pages remained uncut in his library.
Myth Conception
So, how did the dedication story come about? The answer is given, amongst other places, in Francis Wheen's highly readable biography, Karl Marx (Fourth Estate, ISBN: 1-85702-637-3). It all started with a second Darwin letter unearthed amongst Marx's papers, dated 13th October, 1880:
Dear Sir:
I am much obliged for your kind letter & the Enclosure.— The publication in any form of your remarks on my writing really requires no consent on my part, & it would be ridiculous in me to give consent to what requires none. I shd prefer the Part or Volume not to be dedicated to me (though I thank you for the intended honour) as this implies to a certain extent my approval of the general publication, about which I know nothing.— Moreover though I am a strong advocate for free thought on all subjects, yet it appears to me (whether rightly or wrongly) that direct arguments against christianity and theism produce hardly any effect on the public; & freedom of thought is best promoted by the gradual illumination of men's minds, which follow from the advance of science. It has, therefore, always been my object to avoid writing on religion, & I have confined myself to science. I may, however, have been unduly biased by the pain which it would give some members of my family , if I aided in any way direct attacks on religion.— I am sorry to refuse you any request, but I am old & have very little strength, and looking over proof-sheets (as I know by present experience) fatigues me much.
I remain Dear Sir,
Yours faithfully,
Ch. Darwin
This letter was published in a Soviet newspaper in 1931, which went on to suggest that the enclosures referred to in the letter might have been chapters from Das Kapital that dealt with evolution. No matter that Das Kapital, a book on economics, could never be considered a direct attack on religion, whatever Marx's well-documented views on the subject.
So what on Earth was going on?
Mystery SolvedThe mystery was investigated and solved by Margaret Fay of the University of California, who came across an obscure book published in 1881, entitled The Students' Darwin. This was the second in a series of books sponsored by a pair of evangelical atheists.
The author of the book, Edward Aveling, later became the lover of Marx's daughter, Eleanor. In 1895, he and Eleanor began organising her late father's papers (which she had recently inherited from Engels). Later, in 1897, Aveling wrote an article about Marx and Darwin, in which he mentioned having corresponded with Darwin. Presumably, he then filed Darwin's letter to him along with Marx's papers.
Eventually, a letter from Aveling to Darwin (dated 12th October, 1880) was discovered amongst Darwin's papers at Cambridge University. Enclosed with this letter were sample chapters from The Students' Darwin. The letter requested permission to dedicate the book to Darwin.
So, it wasn't Karl Marx's Das Kapital that Darwin politely declined the dedication of; it was Edward Aveling's The Students' Darwin.
