Page 30 - Charles Darwin and His Magic Barre‪l

Darwin’s being an atheist exerted a great influence

on his thinking. With this theory, he would advance
a series of ideas that would give strong support to
atheism.

Darwin explained his ideas in a
book, The Origin of Species, pub-

lished in 1859.

At that time, the misstatements
and errors contained in that book
gave great support to some peo-

ple who did not believe in God.

But even so, Darwin was not
happy because some scientific de-
Darwin’s book
velopments which occurred after

he proposed his ideas caused him great difficulty. For
example, an Austrian botanist (or plant scientist) by
the name of Gregor Mendel made experiments with

plants and, as a result, proposed what he called the
laws of heredity— which proved that Darwin’s
claims as set out in the theory of evolution were un-

tenable.

Darwin (anxious and unhappy): Mendel has
discovered the laws of heredity. What can I do
now?

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