The Film "Creation" Provides Important Portrayal of Darwin's Personal Struggle to Reconcile Evolution, Religious Faith, Pitt Professor Says

PITTSBURGH-The new film "Creation" provides an important portrayal of Charles Darwin's personal struggle to reconcile his evolutionary ideas with his-and his wife's-religious views that contemporary debate frequently overlooks, says a University of Pittsburgh professor available to comment on the movie's release.

James Lennox, a leading authority on Darwin and professor of the history and philosophy of science in Pitt's School of Arts and Sciences, says that modern audiences should know that Darwin struggled over the challenges to religious doctrine posed by his theories. Despite the popular controversy surrounding his work-evidenced by the film's difficulty in finding a U.S distributor-Darwin's conflict with his wife Emma seems largely unfamiliar to the general public, Lennox said.

"We have ample evidence in the letters and notebooks of Darwin and his wife Emma about their deep disagreements over religious faith and the effect that "On the Origin of Species" might have on the faith of those who read it," Lennox said. "Darwin thought deeply about his evolutionary ideas and his doubts about orthodox religious belief increased throughout his life. His modern proponents and detractors-often quick to 'believe' one way or the other-are remiss in not practicing the same philosophical reflection central to Darwin's life and work."

Lennox cited a selection from Darwin's autobiography, where he writes: "…I was very unwilling to give up my belief… But I found it more and more difficult, with free scope given to my imagination, to invent evidence which would suffice to convince me. Thus disbelief crept over me at a very slow rate, but was at last complete. The rate was so slow that I felt no distress, and have never since doubted even for a single second that my conclusion was correct."

In studying Darwin for more than 20 years, Lennox has written numerous peer-reviewed articles, textbook entries and chapters, and book reviews on Darwin and his work. Among his published works is the entry on Darwinism published in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

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