Friday, August 18, 2006

Cheap Shots 2: Pairing Darwin with Hitler

Uh, I'm not interested in going into a debate on evolution here. For one thing, I'm in enough hot water. For another thing, I'm not carrying that water in the first place--my existential angst lies in other directions. But I did have to at least note what looks like another bad idea emanating from D. James Kennedy and Coral Ridge Ministries. Apparently, they are about to air a program suggesting that Hitler couldn't have done what he did unless Charles Darwin preceeded him. The video preview starts right off with this statement:

"Morality is whatever you want to make it to be. That's really Darwin's legacy."

From there we are introduced (though without any tie-in to Charles Darwin himself, or his opinions on this idea) to "social Darwinism" and the legacy of Adolf Hitler. The punchline of course is that Hitler's Aryan mythology (and mass murder of "undesirables") is directly attributable to Darwin's concept of the survival of the fittest. It all sounds so plausible... but I question it.

My quick riff on this is... buyer beware. The quick, superficial linkage of ideas and persons has been done before by Christian spokespersons -- heck, it has also been done TO Christians by non-believers -- and it is neither ethical nor logical. An idea which is benign in its original form can be twisted into grotesque shapes and uses never dreamt of by its originator. To charge Darwin with Hitler's insane vision is the equivalent of charging Paul with the madness of the Inquisition...

In bluechristian's ever so 'umble opinion, anyway... and did I mention Ann Coulter appears in the video? Her comment sorta underscores my frustration: "[Hitler] was applying Darwinism. He thought the Aryans were the fittest and he was just hurrying natural selection along." If Ann says it, it must (not) be true...

1 comment:

beepbeepitsme said...

RE: ""Morality is whatever you want to make it to be. That's really Darwin's legacy."

Evolution and natural selection as described by Darwin do not have anything to do woth morality. They do not have anything to do with morality in the same way that photosynthesis or nuclear physics have anything to do with morality.

They merely examine the processes occuring in nature. It takes human beings to ascribe a morality or immorality to a natural process.