Victorian era Religion and religious Beliefs

Victorian age was an interesting time when old religious beliefs started
getting questioned
Due to progress made in science and technology.

Christianity in the Victorian era: in that time, people of England

Were very religious, many of them visited the church or went to chapel regularly
on sun day. People were not only religious but they were also god-fearing. At the
end of the Victorian era and for the first time Christianity was questioned.

Why did Victorian era beliefs start changing: the changes

brought about by the Industrial Revolution and the emergence of new scientific
ideologies and ignorance of religious beliefs and superstitions that affected
people's lives for many years.
One of the factors was the Industrial Revolution led to an increase in the number
of educated people and the influence it made on technology and communication.
These developments slowly drifted people away from religion and spirituality.
People had now started prioritizing their work and wanted to be free from the
kind of lifestyle they had before.
Scientific growth in England in the Victorian era was a major reason why
questions were raised against religious beliefs.
One person responsible for shaking the religious beliefs was Charles Darwin, the
Victorian era naturalist. Darwin in his book The Origin of Species had propounded
the theory that man had evolved just like any other species and was not a
separate creature as was common belief.
Darwin further said that man had evolved through the process of natural
selection, which was in response to the environment around him and his pursuit
for pleasure. His theory shocked many as it challenged the foundation of their old
beliefs.
Victorian era Religion and religious Beliefs
The conflict between science and religion in the latter
half of the 19th century of the Victorian period:
In the latter half of the 19th while at home England had established herself as the
greatest colonizing nation along with her unquestionable supremacy in overseas
trade abroad. Under the smooth surface of british culture lay the inevitable
ferment of scientific and religious beliefs. Erasmus Darwin, Charles Darwin
grandfather, shocked the Englishmen when he argued against the concept of the
scale of being, a concept derived from the genesis, which is a strict hierarchical
Structure of all matter. The chain starts with god and progresses downward to
angels, demons, stars, moon, kings, princes, nobles, commoners, wild animals,
domesticated animals, trees, other plants, precious stones, precious metals, and
other miners.
In the epoch-making volume on the origin of species Darwin denied the
Lamarckian principle that there is a “necessary progression”, but above all he
denied the history of creation as mentioned in the genesis and summarize it his
thesis “struggle for existence “ .
The Victorian saw phenomenal development in the formulations of new scientific
laws and the application of science to life. The latter helped to transform the
material basis of life, and thereby affected growth of human mind in subtle and
unperceived way of thinking. Those who accepted a society based on
individualism, interpreted Darwin theory as sanctioning the fierce and ruthless
competitive basis of the capitalistic society. Non-scientific thinkers leaned
towards various forms of agnosticism that ranged from skeptical unbelief to
complete atheism. It sometimes led to a glorification of man, as in Swinburne
hymn to man.
Victorian era Religion and religious Beliefs

Science and faith: the industrial revolution [late 18th -19th

centuries]
In the midst of this rapid industrial, scientific, and social change, Christian clerics,
scholars, and lay people wrestled with the relationship of their faith to the
changing times. Some struggled to reconcile their theological understanding with
the social and industrial order. Some theologians, echoing the romantic poets and
artists, pined for the old order and explored Christianity as more of an inner
reality.
Throughout Europe and north America, a series of “great awakenings”
characterized by personal religious experience and emotion, challenged the
rationalism that had become associated with Christianity during the
enlightenment era. New protestant denominations were formed, and other
movement were founded. Those movement were characterized by an emphasis
on the supremacy of the bible and a rejection of the rationalism and allegorical
interpretation of scripture.
Other Christians, in contrast with the emphasis on individualism, personal
experience, emotion, and anti-scholasticism associated these revival movements,
emphasized natural theology, the premise that god can be known through reason
and through observing his works in nature.
At the same time as Christians were wrestling with what their religion meant in
these rapidly changing times, other scholars were challenging the legitimacy of all
religions, religious thought, experience and authority.
It is significant that many scientists during this era, however, did integrate their
faith with their scientific endeavours.
Victorian era Religion and religious Beliefs