George Washington Carver: A Constructive Form of Faith

When we think of Christians in science, we automatically think of the creationists and the Intelligent Design people whose major work is to destroy some of the most amazingly successful aspects of modern science, specifically evolution. But this is not the kind of faith that George Washington Carver had. In the previous essay, I explored ideas about Carver’s theistic way of doing science. In this essay, I want to look a little more closely at his religious faith.

Carver not only conducted botanical and chemical research, and taught classes, at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, but for decades he also taught a very popular Bible study class. He was a very devout Christian but was not a fundamentalist. When Mahatma Gandhi corresponded with him, he did not denounce Gandhi’s non-Christian religious beliefs.

On one occasion, typical of many others, Carver wrote,

We make our own hell or heaven. We bring upon ourselves little moments of hell when we think and act a little meanly toward a fellow student or a fellow American, black or white. When our thoughts—which bring actions—are filled with hate against anyone, Negro or white, we are in a living hell. That is as real as hell will ever be.

Carver had no children of his own and was never known to have had any interest in women. Some people have claimed that Carver was gay. According to one website, “Carver never married or expressed interest in dating women, and rumors circulated about his sexuality at Tuskegee Institute while he was an employee. In particular, his enjoyment of giving “therapeutic” peanut oil massages to and engaging in horseplay with handsome men was seen as unusual. Late in his career, Carver established a life and research partnership with another male scientist, Austin Wingate Curtis, Jr. The two men cohabitated from 1934 until Carver’s death in 1943. Carver and Curtis kept details of their lives discreet, and as such historians know little about how these men understood their relationship. Nonetheless, the fact that Carver willed his assets to Curtis testifies to the significance of their relationship.” This is not proof one way or the other about Carver’s orientation. We simply do not know.

But Carver did frequently refer to his students as his children, and to them he addressed his “eight cardinal virtues”:

Be clean both inside and outside.

Who neither looks up to the rich or down on the poor.

Who loses, if need be, without squealing.

Who wins without bragging.

Who is always considerate of women, children, and old people.

Who is too brave to lie.

Who is too generous to cheat.

Who takes his share of the world and lets other people have theirs.

This is the kind of religion that we can all admire. Even in this way, what is there to not admire about George Washington Carver?