EVOLUTION AND SOCIETY: 1
Evolutionary theory tore through the modern world, produced two world wars, and dramatically changed modern civilization. There are few families who have not experienced the damage caused by *Darwin's theory. This is science vs. evolution—a Creation-Evolution Encyclopedia, brought to you by Creation Science Facts.
CONTENTS: Evolution and Society: 1
The Basic Teaching: Evolution teaches that savagery is normal, and we are brothers to the beast
Impact on Western Civilization: Evolutionary theory has affected every area of Western society
Laying the Foundation: *Marx called it "class struggle"; *Haeckel called in "monism"; and *Nietzsche wanted a "super race" which would destroy all others
Warfare: Two world wars were started by ardent evolutionists
Socialism: *Comte, *Spencer, and *Sumner brought evolutionary theory into the social fields
Evolutionary Collectivism and Psychology: *Ward, *Freud, and *James broadened its scope
Literature and Law: *Holmes, *Shaw and others extended its influence still further
Communism: *Marx and *Engels idolized what *Darwin had done, and founded their "class struggle" on Darwin's theory
Racism and Eugenics: Getting rid of inferior races was a primary teaching in *Darwin's book
Other Aspects: The poor, business, and education
Page numbers without book references refer to the book, EVOLUTION AND SOCIETY, from which these facts are summarized. An asterisk ( * ) by a name indicates that person is not known to be a creationist. Of over 4,000 quotations in the set of books this Encyclopedia is based on, only 164 statements are by creationists.
THE BASIC TEACHING
The evolutionists wanted to remove God from people's lives. In its place, they substituted viciousness. Evolutionary theory lays the seeds for the destruction of civilization.
Evolution teaches savagery. It declares that only those creatures who were the most vicious have succeeded down through the ages. "Survival of the fittest" it is called, and it means that those animals and primitive man, who crushed their competitors, succeeded.
This is a horrible teaching to give to humanity. Yet it is taught in schools, lavishly illustrated in textbooks, and portrayed in motion pictures.
Charles Darwin's book, Origin of the Species, was subtitled The Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life. This book laid the foundation for the international violence and bloodshed which was to follow.—p. 13.
This major article is closely related to information given in another one: History of Evolutionary Theory.
IMPACT ON WESTERN CIVILIZATION
Evolution and Western culture. Gradually an attempt was made to extend evolutionary theory into every field of human endeavor. It is remarkable that a concept founded on confused speculations and nonexistent scientific facts would be pushed forward as the basis of a single, supposedly unified structure of knowledge.—pp. 13-14.
Early warnings. Shortly after the 1859 publication of *Charles Darwin's book, Origin of the Species, several men of integrity issued written warnings of the moral holocaust that these sentiments would lead to, if accepted by scientists and the public.—p. 14.
Influential status of science. In the 20th century, statements by scientists have come to be revered as wise and profound. Few people argue with scientific theories, for most are unacquainted with the subject matter. When men who hold science degrees speak, people tend to view their utterances as infallible.—pp. 14-15.
Ethics and morality. The vicious principles, taught by Darwinism have loosed a flood of immorality upon the world. Declaring that man is but an animal, the theory teaches that the most successful animals are those which are first to attack and overcome others.
Evolutionary theory has entered every sphere of behavior, business, science, and government.
Education is seen as the key to the changeover. In order to make atheists of everyone, it is also recognized that the schools must be controlled by evolutionists.
The teaching that man is but a beast, and not accountable for any of his actions, is the heart of Darwin's theory. We are said to be nothing more than worms, dogs, and monkeys grown big.—pp. 15-19.
LAYING THE FOUNDATION
20th century cornerstone. Large numbers of influential thought leaders in our century have been evolutionists. They have affected every phase of life.—p. 19.
Here are a few of the men who laid the foundations for 20th century attitudes:
*Karl Marx. That which *Darwin did to biology, Marx, with the help of others, did to society. Marx was fully convinced that his ideas originated with his reading of Darwin's writings. He wanted to dedicate his book, Das Kapital, to Darwin.—pp. 19-20.
*Earnst Haeckel. Haeckel was an early promoter of Darwinism in Germany. He used fraudulent methods to promote Darwin's errors.
Along with *Nietzsche, Haeckel helped lay the foundations for the German militarism which produced World War I.
Haeckel was the founder of the Monist League, an atheist organization which taught that all reality consists only of matter; there are no morals, right or wrong. His efforts laid the seedbed for what became German National Socialism.—pp. 20-22.
*Joseph Stalin. *Both Lennin and Stalin were ardent evolutionists. Stalin's biographer tells us that it was a reading of Darwin's book that caused him to become an atheist. He found the book on a shelf in a church school.—p. 20.
*Friedrich Nietzsche. Darwinism transformed Nietzsche into a maniacal lover of war and bloodshed. Declaring that his theory of violence was "scientific" because it was a social outgrowth of *Darwin's biological theory, he urged Germans to accept it. He declared that Germans were the "super race," and needed to eliminate competitors and fill the earth.—pp. 21-22.
WARFARE
Warfare. Darwinism led to class struggle, communism, and warfare on a scale never before imagined.
The Franco-Prussian War of 1870 was the first large-scale war in which both sides used Darwinism as an excuse for their conflict.
After that war, Europe began arming itself for something far bigger. It came in the Great War (World War I), which was fought between 1914 and 1917.—p. 22.
*Heinrich von Treitsche. This was a leading Prussian militarist who strongly urged war by Germany, in order to fulfill its "evolutionary destiny."—p. 23.
*Adolf Hitler. Hitler was strongly influenced by Darwin and Nietzsche's writings.
*Adolf Hitler's famous book, Mein Kampf ("My Struggle"), was based on evolutionary theory. He publicly allied himself with *Charles Darwin, calling him the prophet of what history was to bring.—pp. 23-24.
*Benito Mussolini. The thinking of this Fascist leader was dominated by Darwinian thinking. He used evolutionary slogans to justify his actions, and was fascinated with the violence advocated by *Neitzsche.—pp. 24-25.
SOCIALISM
Positivism. *Auguste Comte, one of the originators of sociology, is the founder of Positivism. This was touted as the scientific evolution of the mind. According to him, everything religious must be eradicated.—p. 25.
Social Darwinians. This was the name given to those revolutionary socialists who tried to apply *Neitzsche's warfare theories and *Darwin's biological strife ideas to Western-style business and politics. Their objective was to destroy competitors. Great corporations were built by ruining smaller ones.—p. 25.
*Herbert Spencer. A pioneer in introducing Darwinism into sociological fields, Spencer was only able to accomplish little in life other than writing doubts and speculations. His writings were done in England, from whence they traveled to America. It was Spencer who coined the phrase, "survival of the fittest." He declared that poor classes should be "eliminated" because of their "unfitness."—pp. 25-26.
*William Grant Sumner. This Yale professor taught many future corporate leaders how to apply the ruthless methods of evolutionary theory to success in business.—p. 26.
EVOLUTIONARY COLLECTIVISM
*Lester Frank Ward. He was the first American leader in evolutionary collectivism (also known as evolutionary socialism). He taught that, although class struggle was the basis of animal evolution, among humans it should be the achievement of pleasure.—pp. 26-27.
PSYCHOLOGY
*Sigmund Freud. Deeply indebted to early German evolutionary instruction, he fully accepted it, as well as *Haeckel's recapitulation theory. Freud believed that people are only animals who recapitulate the wild, uncontrollable animalism of their ancestors.—p. 27.
*William James. His view of psychology placed the study of human behavior on an evolutionary basis. Humans are only animals. He incorrectly called his theory "pragmatism"; it was actually social evolution.—p. 27.
LAW
*Oliver Wendell Holmes. A leading justice on the U.S. Supreme Court for 30 years, he powerfully influenced its decisions. He gave it the view that law is evolving and that the court's decisions should also.—p. 27.
LITERATURE
*H.G. Wells. A thoroughgoing atheist, Wells not only wrote science fiction, but he also openly attacked religion.—p. 27.
*Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. This famous mystery writer was both a leading evolutionist and an avid spiritualist.—p. 27.
*George Bernard Shaw. One of the most influential play writers of our century, Shaw hated Christianity and urged evolutionary theory in his dramas.—p. 27.
COMMUNISM
Communist Darwinism. *Karl Marx and *Friedrich Engels were the founders of modern theoretical communism. They openly declared that their theories of political revolution were directly based on the writings of *Charles Darwin.
However, communist leaders wanted a speeded-up variation of evolution. Instead of slow change, they declared that the best change always came by sudden revolution and violent bloodshed.—p. 29.
Marxists. Three leading Western promoters of evolution are said to have advocated Marxism. These are *Alexander Oparin, *J.B.S. Haldane, and *Steven Jay Gould.
At the present time, Gould is the most influential evolutionist in America. His promotion of the hopeful monster (saltation) theory has brought it into favor with thousands of scientists. (See Mutations, for much more on this.)—pp. 29-31.
Origin of saltation theory. Today, the fastest-growing theory of evolutionary origins is the saltation theory. This is the view that both natural selection and mutations are inadequate to explain the changeover of one species into another.
The saltation theory declares that, every 50,000 years, millions of beneficial mutations occur all at once, and a single new creature is born into the world. Perhaps an ostrich gave birth to a crocodile or a rat gave birth to a beaver.
It is known that the saltation theory was devised in communist Russia and came to the United States in the 1930s. Evolution, communist thinkers said, came not by slow change, but suddenly—both in changes from one species to another and in national upheavals.—p. 31.
RACISM
Darwinian racism. *Charles Darwin's 1859 book, The Origin of the Species, had as its subhead: The Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life.
Both Darwin and many of his followers were racists. They wanted to exterminate any group of people who stood in their way or were less fortunate.
Darwin, himself, openly taught that the whites would kill all the blacks, as well as other "lower races" within a century or two—and that it would be merely ongoing evolutionary development in progress.—pp. 31-33.
OTHER ASPECTS
Eugenics. *Sir Francis Galton, Darwin's cousin, coined the word, "Eugenics." He taught that the best way to improve mankind was to kill off the less-favored people.
But, of course, the practical outworking of such a theory would be that the ones deciding who should not be eliminated—would be those with the most guns—whether it be white Europeans, black Africans, or yellow Asiatics. "We are the best race" can be applied by anyone to themselves.
The fruits of this theory were carried out by *Adolf Hitler in the extermination camps of Germany and Poland. Eugenics was another gift of Darwinism to the world. The "German experiment" revealed the objectives of the evolutionists.—pp. 33-34.
Care for the poor and needy. *Charles Darwin believed that the poor and needy should be left to die, unhelped by their neighbors. Apparently the only people who favored the Darwinists were the well-to-do members of the white race.—p. 34.
Big business. Powerful leaders of both business and labor unions looked to *Darwin as their guiding light. They saw, in his theories of biological evolution, the justification for what they wanted to do to get ahead.
Men like *John D. Rockefeller and *Andrew Carnegie were strong Social Darwinians. They justified ruthless competition as the price of evolutionary progress.—p. 34.
Public education. *John Dewey, a zealous evolutionist, founded the "progressive education movement" in America. He called his philosophy "instrumentalism." Based on evolutionary concepts, it advocated strong government-controlled education.
But "progressive education" was nothing more than careful animal training. In 1933, Dewey became a charter member of the American Humanist Association and its first president. The AHA was the successor to the earlier American Association of Atheists. Atheists now call themselves "humanists."
The indoctrination of the youth into acceptance of evolutionary theory has been seen as a prime objective of the evolutionists.—pp. 34-35.
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