While many people today consider evolution and religion to be mutually exclusive, one of Charles Darwin’s biggest American proponents was, in fact, a devout Christian. Asa Gray, a highly accomplished botanist, helped the British naturalist form his theory on the evolution of species despite strong differences in opinion between them.
The correspondence between Darwin and Gray, as well as hundreds of other previously unpublished letters, will soon be available to the public online as part of the Darwin Correspondence Project run by the University of Cambridge.
Despite the alliance between the two scientists, Gray was certainly not an uncritical supporter. He often challenged and disagreed with Darwin’s propositions and conclusions. When the famous treatise On the Origins of Species was published, Gray wrote a positive but critical review of it in The American Journal of Science.
While Gray agreed that changes in species did occur, as stated in Darwin’s theory of evolution, Gray questioned the stability of species, as he observed botanical hybrids and other anomalies calling for a different evaluation of nature. The botanist also saw how portions of the theory could be reconciled with intelligent design.
Gray believed that existing species were not specially created by God, but were instead derived from previous species. The religious principle of “specific creation” requires all living things (humans, animals, and plant life) to have been created in their existing forms, unchanging over time. This view is necessarily incompatible with evolution, so Gray argued that evolution is a part of God’s design.
Gray was, however, unwilling to accept the theory’s dependence on the accidental appearance of traits-what we now know are mutations-that drives natural selection. Gray felt that to suggest randomness in evolution was to attack the idea of a divine plan, essentially voicing the same anxiety Einstein would share years later when he said, “God does not play dice.”
Gray did not accept that Darwinism was equivalent to atheism, and resolutely defended Darwin against religious critics of the theory.
In a letter to American geologist James Dwight Dana, Darwin wrote, “No one person understands my views and has defended them so well as A. Gray-though he does not by any means go all the way with me.”
Their different schools of thought notwithstanding, Gray and Darwin succeeded in sharing their expertise in a civil, gracious, and even friendly manner, all while forming a trusting connection.
“In contrast to much of the current debate, Darwin and his circle of correspondents seem more tolerant and more humble,” said Paul White, of the Darwin Correspondence Project.
Maybe there is something more we can learn from these thinkers of the past.
-Mayce Al-Sukhni
