The Chimpanzee Lady’s Religion

Jane Goodall has been in the news a lot lately as the media has reported on her passing. She became famous for her field research with chimpanzees, where she discovered they use tools and have complex social lives. She also became a darling of the animal welfare and environmental conservation crowd because of her activism in those areas.

While often touting herself as a spiritual person, the actual truth is that, in practical terms, she was an Atheist. All of her work and the conclusions of her work assumed naturalistic worldview beliefs. Her appeal to spirituality was based purely on her feelings of a deep connection with nature.

Goodall was raised in a Christian congregationalist family in England. In fact, her grandfather was a congregationalist minister. Keep in mind that it was a very liberal congregation, so the spiritual environment in her formative years was focused on social reform or social justice, rather than the actual message of the gospel.

As a young woman, she took night classes in Theosophy – the belief that a knowledge of God can be achieved through spiritual ecstasy or direct intuition. In her younger years, her family was church friendly, but they were not faithful church goers. She actually did become a regular attender during her teenage years as she was infatuated with the pastor of her church. And as it turns out, she kept a certain spiritual sense throughout the rest of her life.

But her spiritual inclinations were not actually Christian. Based on her science education in college, she became a firm believer in the Theory of Evolution. At the same time, she maintained her sense of “spirituality” and came to believe that there had to be an intelligent designer behind the scenes.

She characterized her beliefs by saying, “I don’t have any idea of who or what God is. But I do believe in some great spiritual power. I feel it particularly when I’m out in nature. It’s just something that’s bigger and stronger than what I am or what anybody is. I feel it. And it’s enough for me.” When asked if she still considered herself a Christian, Goodall told The Guardian: “I suppose so; I was raised as a Christian.” In the forward to Ervin Laszlo’s book, The Intelligence of the Cosmos, she wrote: “We must accept that there is an Intelligence driving the process [of evolution], that the Universe and life on Earth are inspired and informed by an unknown and unknowable Creator, a Supreme Being, a Great Spiritual Power.”

In 2021, she was awarded the Templeton Prize – an award that recognizes the achievements of people “harnessing the power of the sciences to explore the deepest questions of the universe and humankind’s place and purpose within it.” The press release from the Templeton Foundation hailed her as a singular figure and a pioneering researcher in the quest to answer humanity’s greatest philosophical question, “What does it mean to be human as part of the natural world?”

Her spiritual sense, though, had a very pantheistic and animistic flavor. She believed that all living things have a spark of divine energy that could be called a soul, including both animal and plant life. And while she believed that there is some grand design based on the work of an intelligent designer, there is nothing personal about it. She viewed all of nature as equally valuable, with nothing uniquely special about human beings. For her, they were just one natural species among many that are equally important.

The practical result of her religious faith, then, was that she became a conservationist and climate activist. Since her belief did not include a personal God, there could be no transcendent person to know and follow. She had no concept of a personal relationship with God. With her impersonal understanding of transcendent reality, the natural result was activism that resulted in the promotion of impersonal causes and actions.

And that’s the way faith works. People who believe God is personal and can be known seek to know Him and to do His will. Those who believe in an impersonal faith seek activism to accomplish temporal goals and fill their spiritual void.

This impersonal approach carries over into many religious traditions. Animists (of all stripes) honor/worship nature. Pantheists (of all stripes) seek oneness with the impersonal life force and harmony with nature. And liberal Christianity? These people put all their focus on social reform or social justice.

But God is personal, and He can be known in a personal relationship. The Christian faith embraces that. No other faith does. Of all world religions, Christianity uniquely defines salvation as entering into a genuine, two-way, interpersonal relationship with God. Other religions promote devotion, nearness, or union with the divine, but without an interactive, loving, personal relationship with God. Very sad, for those who will never know Him.

Freddy Davis is the president of MarketFaith Ministries. He is the author of numerous books entitled The Truth Mirage, Rules for Christians Radicals, Liberalism vs. Conservatism, and his latest book Shattering the Truth Mirage and has a background as an international missionary, pastor, radio host, worldview trainer, and entrepreneur. Freddy is a graduate of Florida State University with a BS in Communication, and holds MDiv and DMin degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is a popular speaker, particularly on the topic of worldview and its practical implications for the Christian life. He lives in Tallahassee, FL, with his wife Deborah.

You may also contact Freddy at Leadership Speakers Bureau to schedule him for speaking or leadership engagements.

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