Charles Darwin’s Bible-rejecting letter to go on auction

PanARMENIAN.Net - Charles Darwin’s note stating that he did not believe the Bible was ‘divine revelation’ nor that Jesus was the son of God is headed to auction at Bonhams on September 21 in New York, where it is expected to fetch $70,000-$90,000, the Guardian reports.

In November 1880, Charles Darwin received a request from a young barrister named FA McDermott. “If I am to have the pleasure of reading your books,” McDermott wrote, “I must feel that at the end I shall not have lost my faith in the New Testament. My reason in writing to you therefore is to ask you to give me a Yes or No to the question Do you believe in the New Testament.”

Darwin’s reply, penned on 24 November 1880 – exactly 21 years after the publication of On the Origin of Species – was blunt:

“Dear Sir, I am sorry to have to inform you that I do not believe in the Bible as a divine revelation & therefore not in Jesus Christ as the son of God. Yours faithfully Ch. Darwin”

The 19th-century naturalist and fervent letter writer had largely evaded this question since the publication of the book in 1859. The now classic text introduced his theory of natural selection, which demonstrated that species evolve through gene variation; it was a divisive proposition for Christian readers who believed that humans were made in God’s image, distinct from other animals.