BIBLE SOCIETY DIRECTOR of Programmes, Canon Dr Ann Holt, defends Darwin, on Prayer
for the Day, BBC Radio 4, 27th May 2009. She said: "It may surprise you to know that Charles
Darwin had little interest in religious controversy, preferring instead to adopt a quiet and respectful
attitude to people with whom he disagreed. Some of those on both sides of the faith and science
debate could do with learning from the attitude of the man in whose name they sometimes quarrel.
Polarisation outside the confines of formal debate is rarely helpful when it comes to moving a
discussion forward, and can be utterly destructive of relationship. Recently as director of
programmes for the Bible Society I've been in receipt of some exceedingly unpleasant letters
where it's clear that because the writers don't know me personally they think they can assume and
say anything, just because they disagree with my actions. In our plural society, one of the most
constructive initiatives I know of is that of scriptural reasoning groups. They are being used to bring
Jews, Muslims and Christians together around their sacred texts. Freedom of thought and
expression are precious gifts, not to be snubbed and should be used in enriching dialogue that we
might understand one another as Darwin and the archbishop Frederick Temple did nearly 200
years ago. In the New Testament, the Pharisees could barely contain their anger when Jesus
failed to conform to their stereotype of what a good rabbi should be like by picking ears of corn on
the Sabbath for example. Angry people are rarely good judges of outcomes, soft answers are what
turn away wrath, and can open the way to considered wisdom."
ED. COM. Towards the end of his life Darwin openly rejected the basic message of the Bible. He
wrote "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." (Letter to Frederick McDermott, 24th November
1880.) The Bible Society was established so that people all over the world could read the
Scriptures and find salvation in Jesus Christ, who is God the Son, Creator, Saviour and Lord. As a
director of the Bible Society, Ann Holt should be defending the Bible, rather than praising someone
who rejected it. Darwin's gentlemanly attitude does not make him correct about science or
Scripture. (Ref. philosophy, multi-faithism, apostasy)
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