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"A Matter of Life and Death. From Darwin to Hitler" (2005)
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"A Matter of Life and Death. From Darwin to Hitler" (2005)
"Breakpoint with Charles Colson" August 30, 2005.
BREAKPOINT with Charles Colson
> ------------------------------<br>
> <strong>A Matter of Life and Death<br> FROM DARWIN TO HITLER
> <strong>
> August 30, 2005<br>
> In all our contemporary conflicts over the teaching of evolution in schools,<br> there's one question that nobody asks: To what does the embrace of Darwinism
> lead?<br>
> Historian Richard Weikart explores that topic in a book called FROM DARWIN TO<br> HITLER: EVOLUTIONARY ETHICS, EUGENICS, AND RACISM IN GERMANY. Despite that
> provocative title, Weikart is no sensationalist. He's not out to prove that<br> Hitler and the Nazi party were directly inspired by Charles Darwin's theories.
> But what Weikart does demonstrate, through exhaustive research, is that Darwin's<br> ideas about the origin of species helped create a culture that devalued human
> life. And in that culture, Nazism was able to thrive.<br>
> Darwin wasn't the first person to claim that the strong and healthy have higher<br> value than the weak and sick, or that some races are inferior to others. Those
> ideas, Weikart says, were around long before Darwin. What Darwin provided was a<br> scientific foundation for these beliefs. Weikart writes, "Only in the late
> nineteenth and especially the early twentieth century did significant debate<br> erupt over issues relating to the sanctity of human life. ... It was no mere
> coincidence that these contentious issues emerged at the same time that<br> Darwinism was gaining an influence. Darwinism played an important role in this
> debate, for it altered many people's conceptions of the importance and value of<br> human life, as well as the significance of death." And it wasn't just the
> sanctity of life that came under attack. Darwinism also strengthened what<br> Weikart calls "scientific racism," the theory that some races were less fully
> evolved than others.<br>
> Because of Darwin's theories, leading scientists in the early part of the<br> twentieth century felt emboldened to propose radical ideas about how the sick or
> members of other races should be treated. Even as we read them today, some of<br> their statements still sound shocking in their willful ignorance. Several
> scientists, for example, compared the mentally ill to apes. Textbooks were<br> written that allegedly demonstrated scientifically that Africans, Native
> Americans, and Australian aborigines were subhuman. The eugenics movement --<br> advocated in America as well as Europe -- was able to bring about the
> sterilization of thousands of supposedly "inferior" people.<br>
> In that environment, a young Adolf Hitler found fertile soil for his radical<br> ideas for the "super race." Weikart could not trace those ideas directly to
> Darwin, as we have little evidence of which authors Hitler read and admired. But<br> in his days in Vienna and Munich, theories about racial inequality were
> everywhere. As Weikart says, "Eugenics and euthanasia ... were embraced by a<br> diverse crowd of secular social reformers," and their ideas filled the popular
> press. The few authors we do know that Hitler admired were steeped in that<br> culture.
> <br> Those ideas are still with us today. Look at what happened to Terri Schiavo.
> It's a good time for us to remind people of the social consequences of Darwinism<br> as Weikart so well documents. It's bad enough to teach flawed theories in a
> classroom, but it gets downright dangerous when we let such theories lead us to<br> a diminished view of human life and dignity.
> <br> This commentary first aired on April 7, 2005.
> <br> GET LINKS TO FURTHER INFORMATION ON TODAY'S TOPIC:
> http:/msg1svc.net/servlet/Gateway?p=pfm&u=35289&et=T&s=131333
> <br> ***********
> <br> For printer-friendly version, visit http://msg1svc.net/servlet/Gateway?p=pfm&u=35281&et=T&s=131333 and simply click
> on Today's Commentary at the top of the homepage. The printer-friendly link is<br> on the left-hand column.
> <br> Copyright (c) 2005 Prison Fellowship
> <br> THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN FINAL FORM AND MAY BE
> UPDATED.<br>
> ***********<br>
> FEATURED RESOURCE<br> -----------------
> HUMAN DIGNITY IN THE BIOTECH CENTURY: A CHRISTIAN VISION FOR PUBLIC POLICY by<br> Charles Colson and Nigel Cameron, eds.
> http:/msg1svc.net/servlet/Gateway?p=pfm&u=35290&et=T&s=131333
> <br> RECOMMENDED RESOURCES
> ---------------------<br> Subscribe today to BREAKPOINT WORLDVIEW magazine! Call 1-877-322-5527.
> http:/msg1svc.net/servlet/Gateway?p=pfm&u=35285&et=T&s=131333
> <br> Subscribe today to free newsletters from BreakPoint.
> http:/msg1svc.net/servlet/Gateway?p=pfm&u=35288&et=T&s=131333
> <br> ***********
> <br> ABOUT BREAKPOINT
> http:/msg1svc.net/servlet/Gateway?p=pfm&u=35276&et=T&s=131333
> <br> SUBSCRIBE
> http:/msg1svc.net/servlet/Gateway?p=pfm&u=35277&et=T&s=131333
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> <br> DONATIONS
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> <br> LISTEN ONLINE
> http:/msg1svc.net/servlet/Gateway?p=pfm&u=35280&et=T&s=131333
> <br> ------------
> <br> "BreakPoint with Chuck Colson" is a daily commentary on news and trends from a
> Christian perspective. Heard on more than 1000 radio outlets nationwide,<br> BreakPoint transcripts are also available on the Internet. BreakPoint is a
> production of The Wilberforce Forum, a division of Prison Fellowship: 44180<br> Riverside Parkway, Lansdowne, VA 20176.<br/>
> ------------------------------<br>
> <strong>A Matter of Life and Death<br> FROM DARWIN TO HITLER
> <strong>
> August 30, 2005<br>
> In all our contemporary conflicts over the teaching of evolution in schools,<br> there's one question that nobody asks: To what does the embrace of Darwinism
> lead?<br>
> Historian Richard Weikart explores that topic in a book called FROM DARWIN TO<br> HITLER: EVOLUTIONARY ETHICS, EUGENICS, AND RACISM IN GERMANY. Despite that
> provocative title, Weikart is no sensationalist. He's not out to prove that<br> Hitler and the Nazi party were directly inspired by Charles Darwin's theories.
> But what Weikart does demonstrate, through exhaustive research, is that Darwin's<br> ideas about the origin of species helped create a culture that devalued human
> life. And in that culture, Nazism was able to thrive.<br>
> Darwin wasn't the first person to claim that the strong and healthy have higher<br> value than the weak and sick, or that some races are inferior to others. Those
> ideas, Weikart says, were around long before Darwin. What Darwin provided was a<br> scientific foundation for these beliefs. Weikart writes, "Only in the late
> nineteenth and especially the early twentieth century did significant debate<br> erupt over issues relating to the sanctity of human life. ... It was no mere
> coincidence that these contentious issues emerged at the same time that<br> Darwinism was gaining an influence. Darwinism played an important role in this
> debate, for it altered many people's conceptions of the importance and value of<br> human life, as well as the significance of death." And it wasn't just the
> sanctity of life that came under attack. Darwinism also strengthened what<br> Weikart calls "scientific racism," the theory that some races were less fully
> evolved than others.<br>
> Because of Darwin's theories, leading scientists in the early part of the<br> twentieth century felt emboldened to propose radical ideas about how the sick or
> members of other races should be treated. Even as we read them today, some of<br> their statements still sound shocking in their willful ignorance. Several
> scientists, for example, compared the mentally ill to apes. Textbooks were<br> written that allegedly demonstrated scientifically that Africans, Native
> Americans, and Australian aborigines were subhuman. The eugenics movement --<br> advocated in America as well as Europe -- was able to bring about the
> sterilization of thousands of supposedly "inferior" people.<br>
> In that environment, a young Adolf Hitler found fertile soil for his radical<br> ideas for the "super race." Weikart could not trace those ideas directly to
> Darwin, as we have little evidence of which authors Hitler read and admired. But<br> in his days in Vienna and Munich, theories about racial inequality were
> everywhere. As Weikart says, "Eugenics and euthanasia ... were embraced by a<br> diverse crowd of secular social reformers," and their ideas filled the popular
> press. The few authors we do know that Hitler admired were steeped in that<br> culture.
> <br> Those ideas are still with us today. Look at what happened to Terri Schiavo.
> It's a good time for us to remind people of the social consequences of Darwinism<br> as Weikart so well documents. It's bad enough to teach flawed theories in a
> classroom, but it gets downright dangerous when we let such theories lead us to<br> a diminished view of human life and dignity.
> <br> This commentary first aired on April 7, 2005.
> <br> GET LINKS TO FURTHER INFORMATION ON TODAY'S TOPIC:
> http:/msg1svc.net/servlet/Gateway?p=pfm&u=35289&et=T&s=131333
> <br> ***********
> <br> For printer-friendly version, visit http://msg1svc.net/servlet/Gateway?p=pfm&u=35281&et=T&s=131333 and simply click
> on Today's Commentary at the top of the homepage. The printer-friendly link is<br> on the left-hand column.
> <br> Copyright (c) 2005 Prison Fellowship
> <br> THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN FINAL FORM AND MAY BE
> UPDATED.<br>
> ***********<br>
> FEATURED RESOURCE<br> -----------------
> HUMAN DIGNITY IN THE BIOTECH CENTURY: A CHRISTIAN VISION FOR PUBLIC POLICY by<br> Charles Colson and Nigel Cameron, eds.
> http:/msg1svc.net/servlet/Gateway?p=pfm&u=35290&et=T&s=131333
> <br> RECOMMENDED RESOURCES
> ---------------------<br> Subscribe today to BREAKPOINT WORLDVIEW magazine! Call 1-877-322-5527.
> http:/msg1svc.net/servlet/Gateway?p=pfm&u=35285&et=T&s=131333
> <br> Subscribe today to free newsletters from BreakPoint.
> http:/msg1svc.net/servlet/Gateway?p=pfm&u=35288&et=T&s=131333
> <br> ***********
> <br> ABOUT BREAKPOINT
> http:/msg1svc.net/servlet/Gateway?p=pfm&u=35276&et=T&s=131333
> <br> SUBSCRIBE
> http:/msg1svc.net/servlet/Gateway?p=pfm&u=35277&et=T&s=131333
> <br> FIND A RADIO STATION
> http:/msg1svc.net/servlet/Gateway?p=pfm&u=35278&et=T&s=131333
> <br> DONATIONS
> http:/msg1svc.net/servlet/Gateway?p=pfm&u=35279&et=T&s=131333
> <br> LISTEN ONLINE
> http:/msg1svc.net/servlet/Gateway?p=pfm&u=35280&et=T&s=131333
> <br> ------------
> <br> "BreakPoint with Chuck Colson" is a daily commentary on news and trends from a
> Christian perspective. Heard on more than 1000 radio outlets nationwide,<br> BreakPoint transcripts are also available on the Internet. BreakPoint is a
> production of The Wilberforce Forum, a division of Prison Fellowship: 44180<br> Riverside Parkway, Lansdowne, VA 20176.<br/>
