Proper response in debate about evolution? ?

[Mhaman]

When i was talking about evolution, someone said "Darwin said on his death bed that he made it up and didn't believe it!" Although I know that this in no way refutes the scientific evidence, what would be a proper response to this? Where did this erroneous argument originate from? How best to combat this ignorant quote mining?

 

[cato___]

Say yeah, and Houdini said if there was an after life he would get a message out.

 

[Wise Duck]

Ask them to cite a source for the claim (also demand sources for other ridiculous statements). Since the Lady Hope story is known to be bogus, and most creationists will even admit that, it doesn't have a leg to stand on.

Creationists have a strange fixation on Darwin in general, likening him to a religious prophet. Point out that Alfred Russel Wallace came up with natural selection independently of Darwin and Lamarck published a similar idea a century earlier. Emphasize that evolution is not the idea of a single person, but the product of every scientist.