What’s wrong with Darwinism?
by Tony Campolo
Posted: Friday, February 27, 2009, 12:45 (GMT)
Many supporters of the principle of separation of church and state say that the Intelligent Design Theory of creation ought not to be taught in public schools because that it contains a religious bias.
They say that Intelligent Design proponents suggest that the evolutionary development of life was not the result of natural selection, as Charles Darwin suggested, but was somehow given purposeful direction and, by implication, was guided by God.
Arguing in favour of what they believe is a non-prejudicial science, they contend that children in public schools ought to be taught Darwin’s explanation of how the human race evolved, which they claim is value-free and dependent solely on scientific evidence. Nothing could be further from the truth!
In reality, Darwin’s writings, when actually read, express the prevalent racism of the nineteenth century, and endorse an extreme laissez faire political ideology that legitimates the neglect of the suffering poor by the ruling elite.
Those who argue at school board meetings that Darwin should be taught in public schools seldom have taken the time to read what he had to say. If they even knew the full title of his book, which is On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life, they might have gained some inkling of the racism propagated by this controversial theorist.
Then, if they had gone on to read his second book, The Descent of Man, it is likely that they would be shocked to learn that among Darwin’s scientifically based proposals was the elimination of “the negro and Australian peoples,” which he considered to be savage races whose continued survival was hindering the progress of civilisation.
The comments below are readers' personal opinions and are in no way intended to reflect the editorial opinion of Christian Today.
Added: Wednesday, March 4, 2009, 12:43 (GMT)
This artical was very insightful. I always consider that Darwinism was just an attack on the developement of Humanity, but my goodness I did not know that it was the basis of such lack of care and love for all humanity and that this man thought so little of people to put them in a category of usefullness to uselessness. And that still today people want to be part of this. Well thank you and spread the word dude keep it going
William Newell, saltcoats
Added: Monday, March 2, 2009, 18:04 (GMT)
The Onion is satirical - though some believe it to be 'real' news: this article is nonsense that claims to be serious analysis and will be devoured by those deluded, confused or ill-informed enough to want to believe it.
Where does one start? Surely you and the author know that the 'races' in the 'Origin of Species' title are not the black/white/asian/Irish...insert others here... of more 'modern' discourse, it means species/groups (whatever) of animals and plants. This is important, exploiting (rather than trying to dissolve) the prejudice of your readers is unethical.
The article says Darwin explicitly calls for the 'elimination of “the negro and Australian peoples” and seems to give him the position of one of the 'founding fathers' of Nazism. These are serious charges which (as you know) link to the fundamentalist Christian propaganda which claims evolutionary theory is the cause of racism, fascism, abortion... the price of gasoline.....etc. If you want to find a source that justifies oppression of women, genocide, murder etc look to the Bible rather than Darwin and evolutionary theory. Serious articles discussing serious issues should be properly referenced to enable a full analysis and debate - this article seems to be an attempt to pander to prejudice rather than inform.
The article is offensive to those who are not 'religious' but do (believe it or not) have progressive moral/political/ethical positions about racism/fascism/democracy and the treatment of each human being, each citizen. I will leave the other nonsense in the article to be discussed by others
.
Kevin Bryant, Shaftesbury UK
Added: Monday, March 2, 2009, 12:58 (GMT)
-Darwin even argued against advanced societies wasting time and money on caring for those who are insane, or suffer from birth defects. To him, these unfit members of our species ought not to survive.-
I would love to see the quote for that...I am having difficulty finding where this was said by him. A full quote...not a specially minted quote-mined version please.
Richard Eis, England
Added: Friday, February 27, 2009, 22:20 (GMT)
Tony Campolo - You should be deeply ashamed of yourself. Your article is full of deliberate distortions of the truth and (mis)quotations, taken out of context. It is obvious to all (except those with closed minds) that the sub-title of the "Origin" is referring to races (=varieties) of species favoured by natural selection - not by racist human beings. The phrase you put in quotes about "the negro and Australian peoples" does not appear anywhere in Darwin's works - I have carried out a full online text search. If I am wrong about this, please give chapter and verse (you should be good at that). If YOU had actually read Darwin's works - particularly the Voyage of the Beagle, you would have seen that Darwin stood up strongly for repressed peoples - particularly the "negro" slaves he found in South America. Racism is more associated with white US fundamentalist Christianity than with Victorian science. Open your eyes - evolution is fact - supported 100% by DNA!
Roy Henderson
Roy Henderson, East Grinstead, UK
Added: Friday, February 27, 2009, 13:13 (GMT)
What a helpful article! Thanks, Tony! We need informed people who can point to the real issues behind these matters.
wendy, london
