NEWTON
WAS A CREATIONIST ONLY BECAUSE THERE WAS NO ALTERNATIVE?

Not
so — evolutionary ideas were not invented by Darwin. Some of the
ancient philosophers before Christ — such as Anaximander (d. 546),
Empedocles (d. 435), Democritus (d. 370), Epicurus (d. 270) and
Lucretius (d. 55) — had evolutionary ideas that life arose
spontaneously and that different life forms arose from one another.
The ‘great chain of being’ idea pervaded English society well
before Darwin came on the scene. In fact, Darwin’s grandfather,
Erasmus, wrote about evolutionary notions of beginnings. See
also Darwinism:
it was all in the family: Erasmus Darwin’s famous grandson learned
early about evolution.

There
were plenty of atheists before Darwin and they had to have some
naturalistic notion of beginnings (or try not to think about it,
which many do today). Darwin just gave atheism greater intellectual
respectability by providing what seemed to many at the time, ignorant
as they were of the incredible inner workings of even the simplest
bacterium, to be a coherent framework for biological naturalism
(nature is all there is). Darwin was seen as countering William
Paley’s watchmaker argument — that an intricately integrated
watch must have an intelligent designer, so, by analogy, must living
things, which are even more complex.

Debate: Atheist vs Jew (Christopher Hitchens vs Rabbi David Wolpe)

NEWTON
WAS A CREATIONIST ONLY BECAUSE THERE WAS NO ALTERNATIVE?

Not
so — evolutionary ideas were not invented by Darwin. Some of the
ancient philosophers before Christ — such as Anaximander (d. 546),
Empedocles (d. 435), Democritus (d. 370), Epicurus (d. 270) and
Lucretius (d. 55) — had evolutionary ideas that life arose
spontaneously and that different life forms arose from one another.
The ‘great chain of being’ idea pervaded English society well
before Darwin came on the scene. In fact, Darwin’s grandfather,
Erasmus, wrote about evolutionary notions of beginnings. See
also Darwinism:
it was all in the family: Erasmus Darwin’s famous grandson learned
early about evolution.

There
were plenty of atheists before Darwin and they had to have some
naturalistic notion of beginnings (or try not to think about it,
which many do today). Darwin just gave atheism greater intellectual
respectability by providing what seemed to many at the time, ignorant
as they were of the incredible inner workings of even the simplest
bacterium, to be a coherent framework for biological naturalism
(nature is all there is). Darwin was seen as countering William
Paley’s watchmaker argument — that an intricately integrated
watch must have an intelligent designer, so, by analogy, must living
things, which are even more complex.

Debate: Atheist vs Christian (Christopher Hitchens vs William Lane Craig)

NEWTON WAS A CREATIONIST ONLY BECAUSE THERE WAS NO ALTERNATIVE?

Not so — evolutionary ideas were not invented by Darwin. Some of the ancient philosophers before Christ — such as Anaximander (d. 546), Empedocles (d. 435), Democritus (d. 370), Epicurus (d. 270) and Lucretius (d. 55) — had evolutionary ideas that life arose spontaneously and that different life forms arose from one another. The ‘great chain of being’ idea pervaded English society well before Darwin came on the scene. In fact, Darwin’s grandfather, Erasmus, wrote about evolutionary notions of beginnings. See also Darwinism: it was all in the family: Erasmus Darwin’s famous grandson learned early about evolution.

There were plenty of atheists before Darwin and they had to have some naturalistic notion of beginnings (or try not to think about it, which many do today). Darwin just gave atheism greater intellectual respectability by providing what seemed to many at the time, ignorant as they were of the incredible inner workings of even the simplest bacterium, to be a coherent framework for biological naturalism (nature is all there is). Darwin was seen as countering William Paley’s watchmaker argument — that an intricately integrated watch must have an intelligent designer, so, by analogy, must living things, which are even more complex.