Quotation from Darwin (Evolution)

by dhw, Tuesday, March 25, 2008, 23:41 (6085 days ago) @ Matt

Matt regards Dawkins' omission of the words "by the Creator", when quoting Darwin's conclusion, as a "subversive trick". I couldn't agree more. There seems to be a general hero-worship of Darwin when it suits the atheist cause to quote him, but a dismissive wave of the hand when you point out that he was an agnostic who categorically stated that one "can be an ardent Theist and an evolutionist." Of course science has moved on since his time, and amazing discoveries have been made, but none that can even begin to invalidate his statement. - All the same, I am grateful to George Jelliss for pointing out the discrepancy. I didn't know that Darwin had inserted those words later, and as Dawkins did quote from the first edition, he had covered himself factually, though certainly not ethically. I altered the wording accordingly in the "guide" with an acknowledgement. That is, of course, no defence of Dawkins, and as Matt points out, the strategy is not untypical of people who have made up their minds that theirs is the only truth.