Page 192 - Darwin's Dilemma: The Soul

Darwin’s Dilemma: The Soul

At this point, there was a parting of the ways be-
tween Wallace and Darwin, who insisted that natural
selection was the propulsive force of evolution and that
even the most mysterious mental characteristics devel-
oped without being created by a Sublime Being. Darwin
regarded Wallace’s claims as a grave threat to his own
theory, and said this about natural selection in a letter
he wrote to Wallace in 1869: “I hope that you have not
murdered too completely your own and my child.” 122
This conclusion Wallace reached was of course incom-
patible with the theory of evolution, launched in order
to be able to deny the existence of Allah and which
drew its strength from materialism. For that reason,
Wallace’s ideas were swiftly swept under the carpet.
Materialist circles needed to bring to the fore the idea
that everything came into being through unconscious
processes, and Darwin led the way in that regard.

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