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'''Social Darwinism''' is a belief, popular in the late [[Victorian era]] in [[England]], [[United States|America]], and elsewhere, which states that the strongest or fittest should survive and flourish in society, while the weak and unfit should be allowed to die. The [[theory]] was chiefly expounded by [[Herbert Spencer]], whose ethical [[philosophies]] always held an elitist view and received a boost from the application of [[Charles Darwin|Darwin]]ian ideas such as adaptation and [[natural selection]].<ref>[http://library.thinkquest.org/C004367/eh4.shtml Social Darwinism] at Thinkquest, retrieved on 08/04/2008</ref> Its leading proponents opine [[atheism]].<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>

'''Social Darwinism''' is a belief, popular in the late [[Victorian era]] in [[England]], [[United States|America]], and elsewhere, which states that the strongest or fittest should survive and flourish in society, while the weak and unfit should be allowed to die. The [[theory]] was chiefly expounded by [[Herbert Spencer]], whose ethical [[philosophies]] always held an elitist view and received a boost from the application of [[Charles Darwin|Darwin]]ian ideas such as adaptation and [[natural selection]].<ref>[http://library.thinkquest.org/C004367/eh4.shtml Social Darwinism] at Thinkquest, retrieved on 08/04/2008</ref> Its leading proponents opine [[atheism]].<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>

Beginning in 1887, social [[scientists]] were using the term "social Darwinism" to apply the [[Survival of the fittest]] theory to social situations.  Under this theory, the wealthiest or most powerful in society must be [[biologically]] superior, and less "fit" persons should die.   

Beginning in 1887, social [[scientists]] were using the term "social Darwinism" to apply the [[survival of the fittest]] theory to social situations.  Under this theory, the wealthiest or most powerful in society must be [[biologically]] superior, and less "fit" persons should die.   

{{quotebox|Proponents of this particular form of ‘social Darwinism’, such as [[Herbert Spencer]], taught that the powerful and wealthy were this way because they were biologically and evolutionally superior to the struggling masses. They believed that we should therefore do nothing to help improve the working and living conditions of the lesser evolved masses. Charities were clearly evil in helping sustain the lives of those who otherwise would and should die in the natural selection process. In other words, the weak were to do their duty and die while the fittest survived, which would one day lead to an evolutionarily super society and race. [http://www.creationinthecrossfire.com/Articles/OriginofSpecies.html] }}

{{quotebox|Proponents of this particular form of ‘social Darwinism’, such as [[Herbert Spencer]], taught that the powerful and wealthy were this way because they were biologically and evolutionally superior to the struggling masses. They believed that we should therefore do nothing to help improve the working and living conditions of the lesser evolved masses. Charities were clearly evil in helping sustain the lives of those who otherwise would and should die in the natural selection process. In other words, the weak were to do their duty and die while the fittest survived, which would one day lead to an evolutionarily super society and race. [http://www.creationinthecrossfire.com/Articles/OriginofSpecies.html] }}