To what I feel is Lord of all,.
And faintly trust the larger hope.
Charles Darwin's theory of evolution was another nail in the coffin of Christianity. He argued that instead of the originally sinless Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Charles Darwin stated: .
Our ancestor was a hairy quadruped furnished with a tail and pointed ears, probably arboreal in habits . Man is the co descendant with other mammals of a common progenitor.
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If this was statement was correct, man did not, as the churches claimed, have a privileged place if earthly creation, as the image of God, but was merely part of an age-old biological process of the survival of the fittest. Rather than being a little lower than the angels, man was somewhat more developed than the ape. The theory was devastating and destroyed the Christian vocations of many. Perhaps the best way for the modern reader to gain some sense of the impact of this experience is to go to the poetry that grew out of the loss of religious belief. .
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Arnold and Hardy lost their religious belief. They would have both, however, liked to retain their religious belief and faith. They would both have liked to so they were able to go to heaven. They would be able to find a purpose in their lives, and the certainty and confidence in their live of knowing that God cares for them. If someone's religious belief has vanished what values should he adopted? In the poem "Dover Beach" Arnold suggests that love and personal relationships may be turned to. Arnold himself substituted culture, practically poetry, for Christianity. Thomas Hardy's originally planned to be a country person but he a banded his faith and his plans after reading Darwin's book. Despite losing his faith Thomas Hardy still went to church frequently. He even described himself as churchy; not in an intellectual sense but in so far as instincts and emotions ruled". Thomas Hardy replaced Christianity with "loving -kindness".