Changes

Soon many began to view [[racial]] struggles, and [[war]] itself, as a perfectly natural example of survival-of-the-fittest in the human race.  The horrific wars of the 20th century, employing shockingly brutal tactics, were encouraged by a belief in survival-of-the-fittest among humans.  While social Darwinism itself was applied to social and economic situations rather than military ones, it is easy how extreme versions of social Darwinism could justify physical struggles among races.

Soon many began to view [[racial]] struggles, and [[war]] itself, as a perfectly natural example of survival-of-the-fittest in the human race.  The horrific wars of the 20th century, employing shockingly brutal tactics, were encouraged by a belief in survival-of-the-fittest among humans.  While social Darwinism itself was applied to social and economic situations rather than military ones, it is easy how extreme versions of social Darwinism could justify physical struggles among races.

Social Darwinism has been linked with [[nationalism]], [[imperialism]], and [[atheism]].<ref>Hall, Timothy C. (M.A.) "''The Complete Idiot's Guide to World History''". pg. 248: "Others like Herbert Spenser took Darwin's concepts of survival of the fittest and applied them to human society. Spenser saw social progress coming from the struggle for survival. This application became the rationale for many movements and injustices of the nineteenth century, including imperialism, nationalism, capitalism, and racism." ISBN: 978-1-59257-712-5.</ref><ref name="Marvin Perry, Myrna Chase, Margaret C. Jacob, James R. Jacob">{{cite web|url = http://books.google.com/books?id=kKGgoNo4un0C&pg=PA653&lpg=PA653&dq=social+darwinism+missionaries+india&source=bl&ots=Y_LLqh3b93&sig=zQsURzU455ZsXRa-SOQJIzIzP8w&hl=en&ei=7TuhTLfJM8aNnQfF5bSiAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=social%20darwinism%20missionaries%20india&f=false| title = Western Civilization: Ideas, Politics, and Society|publisher = [[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company]]|quote=The most extreme ideological expression of nationalism and imperialism was Social Darwinism. In the popular mind, the concepts of evolution justifed the exploitation of "lesser breeds without the law" by superior races. This language of raece and conflict, of superior and inferior people, had wide currency in the Western states. Social Darwinists vigourously advocated the acquistion of empires, saying that strong nations-by definition, those that were successful at expanding industry and empire-would survive and that others would not. To these elitists, all white men were more fit than nonwhites to prevail in the struggle for dominance. Even among Europeans, some nations were deemed more fit than others for the competition. Usually, Social Darwinists thought their own nation the best, an attitude that sparked their competitive enthusiasm. In the nineteenth centruy, in contrast to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Europeans, except for missionaries, rarely adopted the customs or learned the languages of local people. They had little sense that other cultures and other people had merit or deserved respect. Many westerners believed that it was their duty as Christians to set an example and to educate others. Missionaries were the first to meet and learn about many peoples and were the first to develop writing for those without a written language. Christian missionaries were ardently opposed to slavery.|accessdate = 2007–03–25}}</ref><ref name="Manfred Berg, Geoffrey Cocks">{{cite web|url = http://books.google.com/books?id=xVgDiuOxEP4C&pg=PA65&dq=atheists+social+darwinism&hl=en&ei=v56zTc3LB-f00gGmmrX7CA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CFIQ6AEwCDgU#v=onepage&q&f=false|author=Manfred Berg, Geoffrey Cocks| title = Medicine and Modernity: Public Health and Medical Care in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Germany|publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]]|quote=The Christian-conservative Ritter went on to argue that social Darwnism was an aspect of the materialist worldview of the Weimar Republic, which encompassed Marxism and atheism as well and displaced the religious values that he thought had dominated in the imperial period and that alone could guarantee political stablility in the age of the masses. |accessdate = 2007–03–25}}</ref><ref name="Mohammed Talib">{{cite web|url = http://books.google.com/books?id=Ap9WyyINclUC&pg=PA10&dq=atheism+and+social+darwinism&hl=en&ei=FJ6zTde4GKjk0QG46LybBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CFEQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=atheism%20and%20social%20darwinism&f=false|author=Mohammed Talib| title = Universal Peace|publisher = [[Lulu]]|quote=At this point, we must recall another atheist ideology-Social Darwinism-which was among the causes for the outbreak of both the First and Second World Wars.|accessdate = 2007–03–25}}</ref><ref name="Jonas E. Alexis">{{cite web|url = http://books.google.com/books?id=WZEXJm4JIbEC&pg=PA39&dq=atheists+social+darwinism&hl=en&ei=oZ6zTZnPGJCC0QGjg5n1CA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=atheists%20social%20darwinism&f=false|author=Jonas E. Alexis| title = Christianity's Dangerous Idea|publisher = [[AuthorHouse]]|quote=What is even more interesting to point out is that the leading social Darwinists were not Protestants at all-they were mostly atheists who were trying to force their own ideologies upon society at large.|accessdate = 2007–03–25}}</ref> To elitists, strong nations were composed of white people who successful at expanding their empires, and as such, these strong nations would survive in the struggle for dominance.<ref name="Marvin Perry, Myrna Chase, Margaret C. Jacob, James R. Jacob">{{cite web|url = http://books.google.com/books?id=kKGgoNo4un0C&pg=PA653&lpg=PA653&dq=social+darwinism+missionaries+india&source=bl&ots=Y_LLqh3b93&sig=zQsURzU455ZsXRa-SOQJIzIzP8w&hl=en&ei=7TuhTLfJM8aNnQfF5bSiAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=social%20darwinism%20missionaries%20india&f=false| title = Western Civilization: Ideas, Politics, and Society|publisher = [[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company]]|quote=The most extreme ideological expression of nationalism and imperialism was Social Darwinism. In the popular mind, the concepts of evolution justifed the exploitation of "lesser breeds without the law" by superior races. This language of raece and conflict, of superior and inferior people, had wide currency in the Western states. Social Darwinists vigourously advocated the acquistion of empires, saying that strong nations-by definition, those that were successful at expanding industry and empire-would survive and that others would not. To these elitists, all white men were more fit than nonwhites to prevail in the struggle for dominance. Even among Europeans, some nations were deemed more fit than others for the competition. Usually, Social Darwinists thought their own nation the best, an attitude that sparked their competitive enthusiasm. In the ninteteenth centruy, in contrast to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Europeans, except for missionaries, rarely adopted the customs or learned the languages of local people. They had little sense that other cultures and other people had merit or deserved respect. Many westerners believed that it was their duty as Christians to set an example and to educate others. Missionaries were the first to meet and learn about many peoples and were the first to develop writing for those without a written language. Christian misisonaries were ardently opposed to slavery.|accessdate = 2007–03–25}}</ref> With this attitude, Europeans, except for [[Christian]] missionaries, seldom adopted the customs and lanugages of local people under their empires.<ref name="Marvin Perry, Myrna Chase, Margaret C. Jacob, James R. Jacob">{{cite web|url = http://books.google.com/books?id=kKGgoNo4un0C&pg=PA653&lpg=PA653&dq=social+darwinism+missionaries+india&source=bl&ots=Y_LLqh3b93&sig=zQsURzU455ZsXRa-SOQJIzIzP8w&hl=en&ei=7TuhTLfJM8aNnQfF5bSiAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=social%20darwinism%20missionaries%20india&f=false| title = Western Civilization: Ideas, Politics, and Society|publisher = [[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company]]|quote=The most extreme ideological expression of nationalism and imperialism was Social Darwinism. In the popular mind, the concepts of evolution justifed the exploitation of "lesser breeds without the law" by superior races. This language of raece and conflict, of superior and inferior people, had wide currency in the Western states. Social Darwinists vigourously advocated the acquistion of empires, saying that strong nations-by definition, those that were successful at expanding industry and empire-would survive and that others would not. To these elitists, all white men were more fit than nonwhites to prevail in the struggle for dominance. Even among Europeans, some nations were deemed more fit than others for the competition. Usually, Social Darwinists thought their own nation the best, an attitude that sparked their competitive enthusiasm. In the ninteteenth centruy, in contrast to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Europeans, except for missionaries, rarely adopted the customs or learned the languages of local people. They had little sense that other cultures and other people had merit or deserved respect. Many westerners believed that it was their duty as Christians to set an example and to educate others. Missionaries were the first to meet and learn about many peoples and were the first to develop writing for those withouth a written language. Christian misisonaries were ardently opposed to slavery.|accessdate = 2007–03–25}}</ref> Christian [[missionaries]], on the other hand, were the very first individuals to meet new peoples and develop writing systems for local inhabitants' languages that lacked one.<ref name="Marvin Perry, Myrna Chase, Margaret C. Jacob, James R. Jacob">{{cite web|url = http://books.google.com/books?id=kKGgoNo4un0C&pg=PA653&lpg=PA653&dq=social+darwinism+missionaries+india&source=bl&ots=Y_LLqh3b93&sig=zQsURzU455ZsXRa-SOQJIzIzP8w&hl=en&ei=7TuhTLfJM8aNnQfF5bSiAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=social%20darwinism%20missionaries%20india&f=false| title = Western Civilization: Ideas, Politics, and Society|publisher = [[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company]]|quote=The most extreme ideological expression of nationalism and imperialism was Social Darwinism. In the popular mind, the concepts of evolution justifed the exploitation of "lesser breeds without the law" by superior races. This language of raece and conflict, of superior and inferior people, had wide currency in the Western states. Social Darwinists vigourously advocated the acquistion of empires, saying that strong nations-by definition, those that were successful at expanding industry and empire-would survive and that others would not. To these elitists, all white men were more fit than nonwhites to prevail in the struggle for dominance. Even among Europeans, some nations were deemed more fit than others for the competition. Usually, Social Darwinists thought their own nation the best, an attitude that sparked their competitive enthusiasm. In the ninteteenth centruy, in contrast to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Europeans, except for missionaries, rarely adopted the customs or learned the languages of local people. They had little sense that other cultures and other people had merit or deserved respect. Many westerners believed that it was their duty as Christians to set an example and to educate others. Missionaries were the first to meet and learn about many peoples and were the first to develop writing for those withouth a written language. Christian misisonaries were ardently opposed to slavery.|accessdate = 2007–03–25}}</ref> Being critics of Darwinism, they ardently [[Abolitionism|opposed slavery]] and  provided an [[education]] and religious instruction to the new peoples they interacted with since they felt that this was their duty as [[Christians]].<ref name="Marvin Perry, Myrna Chase, Margaret C. Jacob, James R. Jacob">{{cite web|url = http://books.google.com/books?id=kKGgoNo4un0C&pg=PA653&lpg=PA653&dq=social+darwinism+missionaries+india&source=bl&ots=Y_LLqh3b93&sig=zQsURzU455ZsXRa-SOQJIzIzP8w&hl=en&ei=7TuhTLfJM8aNnQfF5bSiAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=social%20darwinism%20missionaries%20india&f=false| title = Western Civilization: Ideas, Politics, and Society|publisher = [[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company]]|quote=The most extreme ideological expression of nationalism and imperialism was Social Darwinism. In the popular mind, the concepts of evolution justifed the exploitation of "lesser breeds without the law" by superior races. This language of raece and conflict, of superior and inferior people, had wide currency in the Western states. Social Darwinists vigourously advocated the acquistion of empires, saying that strong nations-by definition, those that were successful at expanding industry and empire-would survive and that others would not. To these elitists, all white men were more fit than nonwhites to prevail in the struggle for dominance. Even among Europeans, some nations were deemed more fit than others for the competition. Usually, Social Darwinists thought their own nation the best, an attitude that sparked their competitive enthusiasm. In the ninteteenth centruy, in contrast to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Europeans, except for missionaries, rarely adopted the customs or learned the languages of local people. They had little sense that other cultures and other people had merit or deserved respect. Many westerners believed that it was their duty as Christians to set an example and to educate others. Missionaries were the first to meet and learn about many peoples and were the first to develop writing for those withouth a written language. Christian misisonaries were ardently opposed to slavery.|accessdate = 2007–03–25}}</ref>

Social Darwinism has been linked with [[racism]], [[nationalism]], [[imperialism]], and [[atheism]].<ref>Hall, Timothy C. (M.A.) "''The Complete Idiot's Guide to World History''". pg. 248: "Others like Herbert Spenser took Darwin's concepts of survival of the fittest and applied them to human society. Spenser saw social progress coming from the struggle for survival. This application became the rationale for many movements and injustices of the nineteenth century, including imperialism, nationalism, capitalism, and racism." ISBN: 978-1-59257-712-5.</ref><ref name="Marvin Perry, Myrna Chase, Margaret C. Jacob, James R. Jacob">{{cite web|url = http://books.google.com/books?id=kKGgoNo4un0C&pg=PA653&lpg=PA653&dq=social+darwinism+missionaries+india&source=bl&ots=Y_LLqh3b93&sig=zQsURzU455ZsXRa-SOQJIzIzP8w&hl=en&ei=7TuhTLfJM8aNnQfF5bSiAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=social%20darwinism%20missionaries%20india&f=false| title = Western Civilization: Ideas, Politics, and Society|publisher = [[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company]]|quote=The most extreme ideological expression of nationalism and imperialism was Social Darwinism. In the popular mind, the concepts of evolution justifed the exploitation of "lesser breeds without the law" by superior races. This language of raece and conflict, of superior and inferior people, had wide currency in the Western states. Social Darwinists vigourously advocated the acquistion of empires, saying that strong nations-by definition, those that were successful at expanding industry and empire-would survive and that others would not. To these elitists, all white men were more fit than nonwhites to prevail in the struggle for dominance. Even among Europeans, some nations were deemed more fit than others for the competition. Usually, Social Darwinists thought their own nation the best, an attitude that sparked their competitive enthusiasm. In the nineteenth centruy, in contrast to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Europeans, except for missionaries, rarely adopted the customs or learned the languages of local people. They had little sense that other cultures and other people had merit or deserved respect. Many westerners believed that it was their duty as Christians to set an example and to educate others. Missionaries were the first to meet and learn about many peoples and were the first to develop writing for those without a written language. Christian missionaries were ardently opposed to slavery.|accessdate = 2007–03–25}}</ref><ref name="Manfred Berg, Geoffrey Cocks">{{cite web|url = http://books.google.com/books?id=xVgDiuOxEP4C&pg=PA65&dq=atheists+social+darwinism&hl=en&ei=v56zTc3LB-f00gGmmrX7CA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CFIQ6AEwCDgU#v=onepage&q&f=false|author=Manfred Berg, Geoffrey Cocks| title = Medicine and Modernity: Public Health and Medical Care in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Germany|publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]]|quote=The Christian-conservative Ritter went on to argue that social Darwnism was an aspect of the materialist worldview of the Weimar Republic, which encompassed Marxism and atheism as well and displaced the religious values that he thought had dominated in the imperial period and that alone could guarantee political stablility in the age of the masses. |accessdate = 2007–03–25}}</ref><ref name="Mohammed Talib">{{cite web|url = http://books.google.com/books?id=Ap9WyyINclUC&pg=PA10&dq=atheism+and+social+darwinism&hl=en&ei=FJ6zTde4GKjk0QG46LybBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CFEQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=atheism%20and%20social%20darwinism&f=false|author=Mohammed Talib| title = Universal Peace|publisher = [[Lulu]]|quote=At this point, we must recall another atheist ideology-Social Darwinism-which was among the causes for the outbreak of both the First and Second World Wars.|accessdate = 2007–03–25}}</ref><ref name="Jonas E. Alexis">{{cite web|url = http://books.google.com/books?id=WZEXJm4JIbEC&pg=PA39&dq=atheists+social+darwinism&hl=en&ei=oZ6zTZnPGJCC0QGjg5n1CA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=atheists%20social%20darwinism&f=false|author=Jonas E. Alexis| title = Christianity's Dangerous Idea|publisher = [[AuthorHouse]]|quote=What is even more interesting to point out is that the leading social Darwinists were not Protestants at all-they were mostly atheists who were trying to force their own ideologies upon society at large.|accessdate = 2007–03–25}}</ref> To elitists, strong nations were composed of white people who successful at expanding their empires, and as such, these strong nations would survive in the struggle for dominance.<ref name="Marvin Perry, Myrna Chase, Margaret C. Jacob, James R. Jacob">{{cite web|url = http://books.google.com/books?id=kKGgoNo4un0C&pg=PA653&lpg=PA653&dq=social+darwinism+missionaries+india&source=bl&ots=Y_LLqh3b93&sig=zQsURzU455ZsXRa-SOQJIzIzP8w&hl=en&ei=7TuhTLfJM8aNnQfF5bSiAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=social%20darwinism%20missionaries%20india&f=false| title = Western Civilization: Ideas, Politics, and Society|publisher = [[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company]]|quote=The most extreme ideological expression of nationalism and imperialism was Social Darwinism. In the popular mind, the concepts of evolution justifed the exploitation of "lesser breeds without the law" by superior races. This language of raece and conflict, of superior and inferior people, had wide currency in the Western states. Social Darwinists vigourously advocated the acquistion of empires, saying that strong nations-by definition, those that were successful at expanding industry and empire-would survive and that others would not. To these elitists, all white men were more fit than nonwhites to prevail in the struggle for dominance. Even among Europeans, some nations were deemed more fit than others for the competition. Usually, Social Darwinists thought their own nation the best, an attitude that sparked their competitive enthusiasm. In the ninteteenth centruy, in contrast to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Europeans, except for missionaries, rarely adopted the customs or learned the languages of local people. They had little sense that other cultures and other people had merit or deserved respect. Many westerners believed that it was their duty as Christians to set an example and to educate others. Missionaries were the first to meet and learn about many peoples and were the first to develop writing for those without a written language. Christian misisonaries were ardently opposed to slavery.|accessdate = 2007–03–25}}</ref> With this attitude, Europeans, except for [[Christian]] missionaries, seldom adopted the customs and lanugages of local people under their empires.<ref name="Marvin Perry, Myrna Chase, Margaret C. Jacob, James R. Jacob">{{cite web|url = http://books.google.com/books?id=kKGgoNo4un0C&pg=PA653&lpg=PA653&dq=social+darwinism+missionaries+india&source=bl&ots=Y_LLqh3b93&sig=zQsURzU455ZsXRa-SOQJIzIzP8w&hl=en&ei=7TuhTLfJM8aNnQfF5bSiAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=social%20darwinism%20missionaries%20india&f=false| title = Western Civilization: Ideas, Politics, and Society|publisher = [[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company]]|quote=The most extreme ideological expression of nationalism and imperialism was Social Darwinism. In the popular mind, the concepts of evolution justifed the exploitation of "lesser breeds without the law" by superior races. This language of raece and conflict, of superior and inferior people, had wide currency in the Western states. Social Darwinists vigourously advocated the acquistion of empires, saying that strong nations-by definition, those that were successful at expanding industry and empire-would survive and that others would not. To these elitists, all white men were more fit than nonwhites to prevail in the struggle for dominance. Even among Europeans, some nations were deemed more fit than others for the competition. Usually, Social Darwinists thought their own nation the best, an attitude that sparked their competitive enthusiasm. In the ninteteenth centruy, in contrast to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Europeans, except for missionaries, rarely adopted the customs or learned the languages of local people. They had little sense that other cultures and other people had merit or deserved respect. Many westerners believed that it was their duty as Christians to set an example and to educate others. Missionaries were the first to meet and learn about many peoples and were the first to develop writing for those withouth a written language. Christian misisonaries were ardently opposed to slavery.|accessdate = 2007–03–25}}</ref> Christian [[missionaries]], on the other hand, were the very first individuals to meet new peoples and develop writing systems for local inhabitants' languages that lacked one.<ref name="Marvin Perry, Myrna Chase, Margaret C. Jacob, James R. Jacob">{{cite web|url = http://books.google.com/books?id=kKGgoNo4un0C&pg=PA653&lpg=PA653&dq=social+darwinism+missionaries+india&source=bl&ots=Y_LLqh3b93&sig=zQsURzU455ZsXRa-SOQJIzIzP8w&hl=en&ei=7TuhTLfJM8aNnQfF5bSiAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=social%20darwinism%20missionaries%20india&f=false| title = Western Civilization: Ideas, Politics, and Society|publisher = [[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company]]|quote=The most extreme ideological expression of nationalism and imperialism was Social Darwinism. In the popular mind, the concepts of evolution justifed the exploitation of "lesser breeds without the law" by superior races. This language of raece and conflict, of superior and inferior people, had wide currency in the Western states. Social Darwinists vigourously advocated the acquistion of empires, saying that strong nations-by definition, those that were successful at expanding industry and empire-would survive and that others would not. To these elitists, all white men were more fit than nonwhites to prevail in the struggle for dominance. Even among Europeans, some nations were deemed more fit than others for the competition. Usually, Social Darwinists thought their own nation the best, an attitude that sparked their competitive enthusiasm. In the ninteteenth centruy, in contrast to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Europeans, except for missionaries, rarely adopted the customs or learned the languages of local people. They had little sense that other cultures and other people had merit or deserved respect. Many westerners believed that it was their duty as Christians to set an example and to educate others. Missionaries were the first to meet and learn about many peoples and were the first to develop writing for those withouth a written language. Christian misisonaries were ardently opposed to slavery.|accessdate = 2007–03–25}}</ref> Being critics of Darwinism, they ardently [[Abolitionism|opposed slavery]] and  provided an [[education]] and religious instruction to the new peoples they interacted with since they felt that this was their duty as [[Christians]].<ref name="Marvin Perry, Myrna Chase, Margaret C. Jacob, James R. Jacob">{{cite web|url = http://books.google.com/books?id=kKGgoNo4un0C&pg=PA653&lpg=PA653&dq=social+darwinism+missionaries+india&source=bl&ots=Y_LLqh3b93&sig=zQsURzU455ZsXRa-SOQJIzIzP8w&hl=en&ei=7TuhTLfJM8aNnQfF5bSiAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=social%20darwinism%20missionaries%20india&f=false| title = Western Civilization: Ideas, Politics, and Society|publisher = [[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company]]|quote=The most extreme ideological expression of nationalism and imperialism was Social Darwinism. In the popular mind, the concepts of evolution justifed the exploitation of "lesser breeds without the law" by superior races. This language of raece and conflict, of superior and inferior people, had wide currency in the Western states. Social Darwinists vigourously advocated the acquistion of empires, saying that strong nations-by definition, those that were successful at expanding industry and empire-would survive and that others would not. To these elitists, all white men were more fit than nonwhites to prevail in the struggle for dominance. Even among Europeans, some nations were deemed more fit than others for the competition. Usually, Social Darwinists thought their own nation the best, an attitude that sparked their competitive enthusiasm. In the ninteteenth centruy, in contrast to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Europeans, except for missionaries, rarely adopted the customs or learned the languages of local people. They had little sense that other cultures and other people had merit or deserved respect. Many westerners believed that it was their duty as Christians to set an example and to educate others. Missionaries were the first to meet and learn about many peoples and were the first to develop writing for those withouth a written language. Christian misisonaries were ardently opposed to slavery.|accessdate = 2007–03–25}}</ref>

==David Klinghoffer==

==David Klinghoffer==