It is often assumed by Creationists (and scientists) that the religious reaction to
Darwin's
Origin of Species was one of hostility. The infamous
Huxley-Wilberforce debate (1860) and
John William Draper's History of the Conflict Between Religion and Science (1874) were certainly instances of this anti-evolution attitude, and the popularity and political power of the
Anti-Evolution League of America (1924) is an historical fact. And yet, the reaction among many religious leaders was more varied than popular history would suggest. Take, for example,
James McCosh (1811-1894), a Scotsman and supporter of the evangelical Free Church of Scotland, who reigned as President of Princeton from 1868-1888, and who was considered to be one of the world's pre-eminent defenders of the faith. And listen to the shock Lippincott felt when he wrote, in an 1880 article in the
American Naturalist, '
It appears that Dr. McCosh, one of the ablest defenders of the Christian faith against the attacks of modern infidelity, is a pronounced evolutionist! '
