Charles Darwin didn't want to talk about it but in a private letter two years before he died, he wrote "I do not believe in the Bible as a divine revelation & therefore not in Jesus Christ as the son of God." The religious implications of evolution are obvious. Charles Darwin killed the god fantasy.

A Letter About Darwin’s Belief in God Just Sold for Nearly $200,000

Just 41 words long, it provides a missing link for historians who have long wondered what the naturalist thought about religion.

By Erin Blakemore
SMITHSONIAN.COM
SEPTEMBER 24, 2015

The idea of natural selection has caused religious debates since even before Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species in 1859. Now, a letter penned by the father of evolution himself on his personal religious views has gained its own fame — the AFP reports that an 1880 letter by the naturalist just brought $197,000 at auction.

The note is just 41 words long, but that didn’t keep it from bringing in big bucks. The AFP reports that though Bonhams New York thought the letter would sell for between $70,000 and $90,000, it brought in a much higher price.

Darwin’s now-valuable note represents a missing link, so to speak, for historians who have long wondered what Darwin believed. It was written in response to a young barrister who asked about Darwin’s personal feelings about the New Testament. Such correspondence was familiar to Darwin — after all, his groundbreaking works on evolution created quite a stir.

As The Darwin Correspondence Project notes, Darwin’s published writings “are particularly reserved or altogether silent on religion.” In 1866, for example, he wrote that “my opinion is not worth more than that of any other man who has thought on such subjects.” But in 1880, two years before his death, Darwin broke his silence on religion. His reply:

Private
Nov. 24 1880
Dear Sir,
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.
Yours faithfully
Ch. Darwin

Francis McDermott, who received Darwin’s letter, promised to keep it secret, and not publicize the famous scientists response. And he kept that promise. According to Fine Books and Collections, the 1880 letter, which set a world record price for Darwin letters, was “unknown to scholars for over 100 years.

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World Record for Charles Darwin Letter at Bonhams NY

A new world record at auction for a letter by Charles Darwin was set at Bonhams New York yesterday (21 September) at the History of Science and Technology sale. The highly personal and unusually pointed statement on Darwin’s lack of belief in the Bible and in Jesus Christ as the son of God was sold for $197,000, (£127,000) having been estimated at $70,000-90,000 (£45,000-60,000).

Darwin’s letter is a reply to a young barrister named Francis McDermott who wrote on November 23, 1880 with a very unusual request: “…If I am to have pleasure in reading your books I must feel that at the end I shall not have lost my faith in the New Testament. My reason in writing to you therefore is to ask you to give me a Yes or No to the question Do you believe in the New Testament...." McDermott continues by promising not to publicize Darwin's reply in the "theological papers".

Darwin responded the very next day:

"Private

Nov. 24 1880

Dear Sir,

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.

Yours faithfully

Ch. Darwin"

McDermott was true to his word and this letter was unknown to scholars for over 100 years. The subject of Darwin’s religiosity had long been a cause of vehement debate. Darwin himself largely refrained from public comment, probably to respect the feelings of his friends and family. Just a month before penning this note, Darwin wrote to the prominent atheist Edward Aveling, "It has ... been always my object to avoid writing on religion, and I have confined myself to science.”

Commenting on the letter, Darwin’s great-great-grandson Matthew Chapman said, “You have to remember this was written two years before he died. You say what you mean. I don't think you are inclined to lie or showboat. You know you are facing death at that point and so I think this is a clear and honest expression of his atheism."

Darwin studied theology at Christ’s College, Cambridge at the suggestion of his father but preferred to spend his time collecting specimens with a select circle of naturalists. It was Darwin’s mentor John Henslow, a clergyman and a professor of Mineralogy at Cambridge, who nominated the 22-year old Darwin for the history-making voyage on the Beagle. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection was published in 1859 and it was then that Darwin’s faith in religion or lack thereof became the subject of public controversy. Darwin died in 1882, the greatest naturalist of his age. Rumors of a deathbed conversion were widely believed but firmly denied by his daughter.