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a fabricated myth · Handle with Care

Darwin's “Deathbed Recantation”

Contested
Darwin's “Deathbed Recantation”
Julia Margaret Cameron (c. 1868), Wikimedia Commons, Public domain — source

You will still hear that Charles Darwin renounced evolution and returned to Christ on his deathbed. He did not. The tale comes from a 'Lady Hope' who claimed to have visited him near the end; his daughter said she was never there, and his son called the story 'quite untrue.' It is a fabrication, and no honest site should repeat it — which is precisely why we name it here.

The Lady Hope story and its family denials; linked below.

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