Note: I did not know whether or not I needed to cite the books, so I assumed not because the handout had no citation. Also, this is fairly rough so be warned.
The bible's declarative and assuring language is designed
to make people believe the story, while Darwin's use of grandiosity coupled
with defensiveness amazes his supporters and placates religious conservatives.
The bible uses dramatic, definitive phrases to make people
believe the creation story. The first line of Genesis demonstrates this quite
effectively: "When God began to create heaven and earth—the earth being
unformed and void, with darkness over the surface of the deep and a wind from
God sweeping over the water—God said, “Let there be light"; and there was
light. God saw that the light was good” (B’reishit 1:1-4). The writers of the
bible never say this is what could have happened or what they think happened,
they say this happened and god is omnipotent. Also, the idea of god bringing
light and life to infinite darkness makes him seem all-powerful and makes
people believe in and fear him—the main reasons for writing the bible. The part
about the creation of man carries the same weight, "and God said, “let us
make man in our image, after our likeness. They shall rule the fish of the sea,
the birds of the sky, the cattle, the whole earth, and all the creeping things
that creep on earth” (B’reishit 1:26). The confidence the writer shows by
declaring exactly what happened combines with the portion about the dominance
of man to make readers of the bible believe what they're reading because people
who say things so definitively predominantly speak the truth, and love god
because he made them (the humans reading the bible) the dominant species. In
these ways (among others), the writers of the bible used declarative and
dramatic language to make people believe that the bible is accurate and respect
(through fear and love) god.
Darwin uses grand predictions of the impact of his findings
to draw in and amaze those who were convinced by the rest of the book and
defensive retreats to avoid conflict with people who would be angered by his
implied challenge to religion. Of the impact of his findings on the future of
humanity he says, “a grand and almost untrodden field of inquiry will be
opened, on the causes and laws of variation, on correlation of growth, on the
effects of use and disuse, on the direct action of external conditions, and so
forth.” Darwin, as he demonstrates in this quote, thought that the very essence
of human thought, scholastics, and inquiry would be dramatically altered by his
findings. However, only someone who trusts the accuracy of his research and
theory (I would like to note here that evolution is just a theory, like gravity or the combustibility of wood) would be
enticed by this notion, someone who remains unconvinced would simply shrug it
off because he does not say that this will replace religion. In this way,
Darwin uses specific language to astonish his supporters and placate strongly
religious people. In the last paragraph of his book, Darwin says “To my mind it
accords better with what we know of the laws impressed on matter by the
Creator, that the production and extinction of the past and present inhabitants
of the world should have been due to secondary causes, like those determining
the birth and death of the individual.” This statement appeases many religious
believers by stating that evolution does not eliminate god, rather it gives him
more legitimacy. And, it gives people who would have trouble reconciling
religious views and Darwin’s text a way to believe in both. Again, Darwin uses
careful wording to attract followers and avoid conflict with religious
conservative—a skill necessary to make his views less abhorrent to his
contemporaries.
