Sermon

Our fourth principle calls us to “a free and responsible search for truth and meaning” and so we explore today whether our earth and humankind were created 6,000 years ago as the Bible tells us or whether our earth has evolved over billions of years as science tells us.

In my study for this sermon, I was delighted to read about two families who are from the area of England where I was born, in the Midlands, and they were both Unitarian and freethinkers! These were the Darwins and the Wedgwoods. Both Charles Darwin’s mother and his wife were Wedgwoods, and his wife was his first cousin; it was very common to marry your cousin in those days. It is not against the law as many of us think. Charles wondered in later life whether the reason he lost 5 of his 8 children was due to the family lines being too close.

Charles Darwin’s father, a prominent and wealthy doctor, made him go to medical school in Edinburgh since he showed no interest in studying anything in particular. After two years in the university and university hospital, Charles found human suffering unbearable and begged his father to let him leave. (These were the days when surgeons had no anesthesia.) His father then sent him to Cambridge University to study for the ministry. Charles liked this very much for there were many theology students who also studied geology and botany—this being considered Natural Theology for all was in God’s plan, they believed. Many thought that they could be a minister and follow their love of the study of nature as well. Sons of the well-to-do who weren’t go-getters or were second sons were sent into the ministry as a kind of punishment or career of last resort.

Charles was kind, polite, and charming. Upon graduation, a friend recommended him to be a gentleman’s companion and naturalist’s helper on a ship called the HMS Beagle, bound for South America, to map the coastline and explore for new species. The two-year voyage stretched to five years. Charles’ powers of observation were keen and he went far beyond what was expected of him in that he discovered many variations of species and also unearthed fossils of extinct creatures. He came to the conclusion that plants and animals changed and adapted over thousands of years and that animals, including human beings, sprang from one species. He also theorized that man is actually an animal descended probably from an ape.

When 27-year old Charles returned, he was already famous due to his discoveries. Charles’ father settled a very large sum of money on him so that he could spend his life doing research and not worry about money. He was what we call an independent scientist. I suspect Beth McGonigle and David Welty (who spoke to us today) would have liked that very much (although I suspect they would both still be dedicated teachers)!

Charles kept meticulous notes of his observations and worked on them for more than 20 years before publishing them. The fact is that he was afraid to publish them or even talk about them to his colleagues because he would have been considered a heretic! Even when he did publish them, he avoided using the word “evolution” or “evolve.” Darwin’s discoveries pointed to the fact that the world couldn’t have been created by God in seven days 6,000 years ago as the Bible said. The world was clearly billions of years old. Creation did not stop and new plants and animals evolved over time.

Charles Darwin was disturbed by the idea that a benign God could possibly create and control the world and cause the suffering of lower animals; he was disturbed also by the way animals lived by killing feeding upon one another. In South America, he observed that a wasp-like creature ate caterpillars alive. And so far as man was concerned, he was greatly disturbed by slavery and the treatment of native peoples by Europeans. It disturbed him that so-called good Christians could be so cruel. Charles Darwin was an exceptionally sensitive and compassionate man.

Charles decided to marry his cousin, Emma. It was a happy marriage and the couple had many children. Charles’ children were subjects of study for him and he wrote a book called the Natural History of Babies. The family attended a Unitarian chapel with other members of the Wedgwood family. Charles’ daughter, Annie, was an exceptionally good, sweet, and joyful child but she died at the age of 10 years, possibly of tuberculoses, although that name was not known then. Charles and Emma never quite recovered from this great loss of such an angelic child. (The one thing that struck me in this study was the sheer number of children that died in this extended families and in their friend’s families. Sometimes families lost all their children. And believe me they had very large families.) Charles once again asked himself how people could possibly believe that there was a good God who caused all the suffering to happen, even if it were for mysterious reasons. An organizing, acting in history , “there for you” God just didn’t make sense to him. Emma was very worried indeed that if Charles didn’t believe in the creator God, he would not join her in the afterlife.

Many scientists and others challenged Charles throughout his life about his lack of belief in a benign creator God. He patiently answered every inquiry in many different ways. It wasn’t that Charles was an atheist for he agreed that there must have been a “First Cause” in the creation but he just could not see that it could be proved. Towards the end of his life, he admitted that the best that could be said about his position on God is that he was an agnostic. He said, “The safest conclusion seems to me that the whole subject is beyond the scope of man’s intellect; but man cando his duty.” (Keynes, 274)

Following the publication of his book The Descent of Man, The newspapers made fun of him and published cartoons of him with a monkey head. The fear of this and then the actuality may have made him ill with anxiety off and on for much of his adult life. It was such a pity that he suffered for telling his truth. Although Charles would go to church with his family, in later years he stopped going inside the church and spent the time walking or talking to the gardener. He had a great respect for the common man and noticed that many uneducated men had good powers of observation. Towards the end of his life, Unitarians from America came to see him to talk about his theory of evolution. This delighted him. These men were part of the Religious Freethinkers movement here and he wrote articles for their newspaper, The Index. (Keynes, 278)

I have had the privilege of reading the book Darwin, His Daughter & Human Evolution by Randal Keynes, a great, great grandson of Charles and Emma Darwin. He reveals to us a man of great compassion for humankind; a man of courage and conviction who at 22 years challenged the racist attitudes of the captain of the HMS Beagle; a man who was a lover of music and poetry; a man who was deeply distressed when his discoveries were used to explain survival of the fittest that led people to not give to charity because the poor 0were less fit. Towards the end of his life, Darwin described himself as being mentally dried up and fit only to take in facts and come up with theories. He said that if he could live his life over, he would require himself to every day listen to music and read poetry (Wordsworth was his favorite) for one cannot be happy without these things he believed. Darwin was deeply depressed, partly due to the loss of the angelic Annie but also the harshness of the pain and suffering in the world left him without faith and joy.

So, was the creation by a Divine Being, or as the Greek Philosophers said, a First Cause or Prime Mover or did the universe just evolve without First Cause? I agree with David Welty, Ph.D. who said, “a creative force set in motion the forces that shaped the universe, earth, and cells…[but there] is a lot to learn.” And I agree with Beth McGonigle, M.Sc., who said, “I don’t object to the theory that…an energy such as the Unified Field, the celestial design committee, or even God had some hand in providing the ‘spark of life’ to the primordial ooze.” Another scientist in our congregation, Bob Rocha wrote to me, “I believe that the ….desire to find answers for oneself, rather than rely on answers provided by religion, is healthy for us.”

The Bible says that life began 6,000 years ago. Geology tells us that the earth is billions of years old. Humankind, as we are now, is about 10,000 years old (and recently a 40,000 year old skeleton was found in central Africa). Perhaps the story of Genesis is a metaphor for humankind becoming conscious of themselves as moral beings. Perhaps our bodies are indeed “animal” and this explains our likeness to the apes and the tendency to violence. But perhaps also our consciousness is “special” and that is the divine spark in us and that is what genesis is about—a celebration of a divine-like consciousness in a body with violent tendencies and the two are often at odds, like when we’re watching sports, or the Superbowl when we go wild! (The Superbowl was to be the evening of when this sermon was delivered.)

Whatever we believe, we may come across people who believe in the literal story of the Bible and we will have to remember that they are entitled to their “truth” for our principles call us to the “worth and dignity of all persons,” and “justice and compassion in human relationships.” Unitarian Universalists are a bit on the scholarly side; the nice thing about this is that, at our best, it encourages us to be neutral and to see other people’s points of view, even though it can be a “stretch” sometimes. If someone has the opposite view from us, what can we say? Perhaps we can say something affirming like, “That’s an interesting point of view. Would… you… like… to… hear mine?” But be prepared to hear the response, “No thank you!” You can always walk away humming the first chant we sang today, “Mystery. Mystery. Life is a riddle and a mystery.” May we always find a respectful way to communicate with those of opposite views while respecting our own view as well.<

References

The following has inspired and informed this sermon:

Keynes, Randal. Darwin, His Daughter & Human Evolution, New York: Riverhead Books, 2002.