View source for Social effects of the theory of evolution

There have been many '''social effects of evolution''' in regards to its acceptance by various individuals in the course of history (see also: [[Belief in evolution]]).  The theory of [[evolution]] has been influential in regards to [[Social Darwinism]], [[Nazism]], [[Communism]], and [[racism]].<ref>https://www.icr.org/article/454/</ref><ref>http://www.creationism.org/csshs/v09n1p04.htm</ref><ref>http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/3031/</ref><ref>http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/3054/</ref><ref name="icr.org">https://www.icr.org/article/55/</ref>[[Image:Hitler.jpg|thumb|200px|right|[[Adolf Hitler]]]]
‎The staunch evolutionist [[Stephen Gould]] admitted the following concerning the prominent German evolutionist and [[atheism|atheist]] [[Ernst Haeckel]]: 
{{cquote|Haecke was the chief apostle of evolution in [[Germany]].... His evolutionary racism; his call to the German people for racial purity and unflinching devotion to a "just" state; his belief that harsh, inexorable laws of evolution ruled human civilization and nature alike, conferring upon favored races the right to dominate others; the irrational [[mysticism]] that had always stood in strange communion with his brave words about objective science - all contributed to the rise of Nazism. -  Stephen J. Gould, "Ontogeny and Phylogeny," Belknap Press: Cambridge MA, 1977 (pp.77-78).<ref>http://members.iinet.net.au/~sejones/social.html</ref>}}

Robert E.D. Clark in his work ''Darwin: Before and After'' wrote concerning [[Adolf Hitler]]'s evolutionary racism:
{{cquote|The Germans were the higher race, destined for a glorious evolutionary future. For this reason it was essential that the Jews should be segregated, otherwise mixed marriages would take place. Were this to happen, all nature’s efforts 'to establish an evolutionary higher stage of being may thus be rendered futile' (''Mein Kampf'').<ref>http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/1675</ref>}}

Dr. Clark also wrote “Adolf Hitler’s mind was captivated by evolutionary teaching — probably since the time he was a boy. Evolutionary ideas — quite undisguised — lie at the basis of all that is worst in Mein Kampf — and in his public speeches”.<ref name="christiancourier.com">http://www.christiancourier.com/articles/read/the_holocaust_why_did_it_happen</ref> 

Richard Hickman in his work ''Biocreation'' concurs and wrote the following:
{{cquote|It is perhaps no coincidence that Adolf Hitler was a firm believer in and preacher of evolutionism. Whatever the deeper, profound, complexities of his [[psychosis]], it is certain that [the concept of struggle was important for]. . . his book, Mein Kampf clearly set forth a number of evolutionary ideas, particularly those emphasizing struggle, survival of the fittest and extermination of the weak to produce a better society.<ref>http://www.creationism.org/csshs/v08n3p24.htm</ref>}}

Noted evolutionary [[anthropology|anthropologists]] Sir Arthur Keith conceded the following in regards to Hitler: “The German Fuhrer, as I have consistently maintained, is an evolutionist; he has consciously sought to make the practices of Germany conform to the theory of evolution”.<ref name="christiancourier.com"/> 

B. Wilder-Smith wrote the following regarding [[Nazism]] and the theory of evolution: 
{{cquote|One of the central planks in Nazi theory and doctrine was …evolutionary theory [and] … that all biology had evolved … upward, and that … less evolved types … should be actively eradicated [and] … that natural selection could and should be actively aided, and therefore [the Nazis] instituted political measures to eradicate … [[Jew]]s, and … blacks, whom they considered as “underdeveloped”.’ <ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/tj/v13/i2/nazi.asp</ref>}}

[[Pulitzer Prize]] winning author Marilynne Robinson wrote the following regarding Hitler's racism in the November 2006 issue of Harper's Magazine:
{{cquote|While it is true that persecution of the Jews has a very long history in [[Europe]], it is also true that science in the twentieth century revived and absolutized persecution by giving it a fresh rationale — Jewishness was not religious or cultural, but genetic. Therefore no appeal could be made against the brute fact of a Jewish grandparent.

[[Richard Dawkins|Dawkins]] deals with all this in one sentence. Hitler did his evil "in the name of. . . an insane and unscientific [[eugenics]] theory." But eugenics is science as surely as totemism is religion. That either is in error is beside the point. Science quite appropriately acknowledges that error should be assumed, and at best it proceeds by a continuous process of criticism meant to isolate and identify error. So bad science is still science in more or less the same sense that bad religion is still religion. That both of them can do damage on a huge scale is clear. The prestige of both is a great part of the problem, and in the modern period the credibility of anything called science is enormous. As the history of eugenics proves, science at the highest levels is no reliable corrective to the influence of cultural prejudice but is in fact profoundly vulnerable to it.

There is indeed historical precedent in the [[Spanish Inquisition]] for the notion of hereditary Judaism. But the fact that the worst religious thought of the sixteenth century can be likened to the worst scientific thought of the twentieth century hardly redounds to the credit of science."<ref>http://solutions.synearth.net/2006/10/20</ref><ref>http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/someone-finally-said-it-dawkinss-hysterical-scientism/</ref>}}
[[Image:Stalin-140508 27880t.jpg|left|200px|thumb|[[Joseph Stalin]] was greatly influenced by the work of [[Charles Darwin]].<ref name="creation.com">https://creation.com/the-darwinian-foundation-of-communism</ref> ]] 

Dr. [[Josef Mengele]]'s evolutionary thinking was in accordance with [[Social Darwinism|social Darwinist]] theories that [[Adolph Hitler]] and a number of [[German]] academics found appealing.<ref name="posner.com">http://www.posner.com/book1.htm</ref>  Dr. Joseph Mengele studied under the leading proponents the "unworthy life"  branch of evolutionary thought.<ref name="posner.com"/>  Dr. Mengele was one of the most notorious individuals associated with [[Nazi]] death camps and the [[Holocaust]].<ref name="historylearningsite.co.uk">http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/joseph_mengele.htm</ref>  Mengele obtained an infamous reputation due to his experiments on twins while at [[Auschwitz]]-Birkenau.<ref name="historylearningsite.co.uk"/> 

The prominent [[evolution]]ist and [[agnosticism|agnostic]] [[Richard Dawkins]] stated in an interview about the evolutionary racist, dictator and mass murderer [[Adolf Hitler]]: “What’s to prevent us from saying Hitler wasn’t right? I mean, that is a genuinely difficult question."<ref name="byfaithonline.com">http://byfaithonline.com/page/in-the-world/richard-dawkins-the-atheist-evangelist</ref> The interviewer of Richard Dawkins wrote the following regarding the Richard Dawkins comment about Hitler: "I was stupefied. He had readily conceded that his own [[philosophy|philosophical]] position did not offer a rational basis for moral judgments. His intellectual honesty was refreshing, if somewhat disturbing on this point."<ref name="byfaithonline.com"/>

{{See also|World War I and Darwinism}}

In addition to greatly influencing Hitler's Nazism, evolutionary ideas influenced the thinking of the [[Communism|Communists]], including Marx, [[Friedrich Engels|Engels]], [[Vladimir Lenin]], and [[Joseph Stalin]].<ref name="creation.com"/> Marx wrote, "[[Charles Darwin|Darwin]]'s book is very important and serves me as a basis in natural science for the [[class struggle]] in history." 

[[Nobel Prize]] winner [[Alexander Solzhenitsyn]] was asked to account for the great tragedies that occurred under the brutal communist.  

Alexander Solzhenitsyn offered the following explanation:
{{cquote|Over a half century ago, while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number of old people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen [[Russia]]: "Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened.''

Since then I have spend well-nigh 50 years working on the history of our revolution; in the process I have read hundreds of books, collected hundreds of personal testimonies, and have already contributed eight volumes of my own toward the effort of clearing away the rubble left by that upheaval. But if I were asked today to formulate as concisely as possible the main cause of the ruinous revolution that swallowed up some 60 million of our people, I could not put it more accurately than to repeat: "Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened." <ref>https://www.icr.org/index.php?module=articles&action=view&ID=276</ref>}}
[[Image:Darwin1.jpg|left|thumb|225px|[[Charles Darwin]] wrote: "When we descend to details, we cannot prove that a single species has changed; nor can we prove that the supposed changes are beneficial, which is the groundwork of the theory.”<ref>Dr. [[Walt Brown]], Center for Scientific Creationism, [http://www.creationscience.com/onlinebook/ReferencesandNotes12.html References and Notes: Distinct Types]</ref>   In addition, Charles Darwin was [http://www.conservapedia.com/Charles_Darwin#Darwin.27s_Racism an evolutionary racist.]<ref>http://www.canadianvalues.ca/issues.aspx?aid=334</ref>]]

Governments under the banner of atheistic [[communism]] have caused the death of somewhere between 40 million to 260 million human lives.<ref>Multiple references:
*Anticommunist (April 14, 2004).  [https://web.archive.org/web/20130607125427/http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/04/289239.html "The Human Cost of Communism - 100 million"].  UK Indymedia.  Retrieved from June 7, 2013 archive at Internet Achive.
*[http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~hpcws/lelivrenoir.htm "''The Black Book of Communism''"].  Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences website:  Cold War Studies.
*Rummel, R. J. (November 1993).  [http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/COM.ART.HTM "How many did communist regimes murder?"]  University of Hawaii website; Freedom, Democracy, Peace; Power, Democide, and War.
*White, Matthew (February 2011).  [http://necrometrics.com/20c5m.htm "Source list and detailed death tolls for the primary megadeaths of the twentieth century"].  Necrometrics.
*Higgins, David (June 22, 2007).  [https://web.archive.org/web/20071008035420/http://www.sarasotamagazine.com/blog/template_permalink.asp?id=365 "Memory and ideology: Washington's newest statue is the Victims Of Communism Memorial"].  Sarasota Magazine website.  Retrieved from October 8, 2007 archive at Internet Archive
*Radosh, Ronald (February 2000).  [http://www.firstthings.com/article.php3?id_article=2526 "''The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression''"]. First Things [journal] website.</ref>  Dr.  R. J. Rummel, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Hawaii, is the scholar who first coined the term [[democide]] (death by government).  Dr. R. J. Rummel's mid estimate regarding the loss of life due to communism is that communism caused the death of approximately 110,286,000 people between 1917 and 1987.<ref>Rummel, R. J. (November 1993).  [http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/COM.ART.HTM "How many did communist regimes murder?"]  University of Hawaii website; Freedom, Democracy, Peace; Power, Democide, and War.</ref> 

In 2024 the assistant to [[Russia]]n Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, former [[Chechen]] Prime Minister Muslim Khuchiev called for a ban on the teaching of Darwinian theory in schools at a meeting of the All-Russian Parents' Committee. "Everyone knows that this is an erroneous theory, it goes against [[religion]]. This is the first step, I believe, in the [[spiritual]] degradation of children."<ref>[https://meduza.io/news/2024/09/20/pomoschnik-mishustina-predlozhil-ubrat-teoriyu-darvina-iz-shkolnoy-programmy-ideyu-podderzhal-pravoslavnyy-oligarh-konstantin-malofeev Mishustin's assistant suggested removing Darwin's theory from the school curriculum. The idea was supported by the "Orthodox oligarch" Konstantin Malofeev], Meduza, 20 September 2024. meduza.io</ref>

As noted earlier, evolutionary ideas contributed to the scourge of [[racism]].<ref name="icr.org">https://www.icr.org/article/55/</ref><ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/racism.asp</ref> Charles Darwin and [[Thomas Huxley]] contributed greatly to the theory of evolution broadly being accepted in the 1900s.<ref name="icr.org">https://www.icr.org/article/55/</ref>   Darwin, Huxley, and the 19th century evolutionists were racist in sentiment and believed the white race was superior.<ref name="icr.org">https://www.icr.org/article/55/</ref> For example, Charles Darwin wrote in his work  ''[[The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex]]'' the following:
{{cquote|At some future period not very distant as measured by centuries, the civilised races of man will almost certainly exterminate and replace the savage races throughout the world. At the same time the anthropomorphous apes...will no doubt be exterminated. The break between man and his nearest Allies will then be wider, for it will intervene between man in a more civilised state, as we may hope, even than the Caucasian, and some ape as low as the baboon, instead of as now between the Negro or Australian and the gorilla.<ref name="DoM6">[https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext00/dscmn10.txt The Descent of Man], chapter VI</ref>}}

John C. Burnham wrote in the journal ''Science'' the following:
{{cquote|After 1859, the evolutionary schema raised additional questions, particularly whether or not Afro-Americans could survive competition with their white near-relations. The momentous answer was a resounding no.... The [[Africa]]n was inferior — he represented the missing link between [[ape]] and Teuton." <ref name="icr.org">https://www.icr.org/article/55/</ref>}}

Harvard University's [[Stephen Jay Gould]] stated, "Biological arguments for racism may have been common before 1859, but they increased by orders of magnitude following the acceptance of evolutionary theory."<ref>https://www.icr.org/index.php?module=articles&action=view&ID=268</ref> See also: [[Evolutionary racism]] and [[Atheism and racism]]

[[Australia]]n atheist and [[philosopher]] David Stove argues that evolutionary ideas were influential in regards to the [[sexual revolution]].  In his work entitled ''Darwinian Fairytales: Selfish Genes, Errors of Heredity and Other Fables of Evolution'', Stove states that The “new religion of selfish genes” classifies all humans as biological errors.<ref name="humanevents.com">http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=18094</ref> Stove further states that “the great sexual emancipators after 1859” ([[Havelock Ellis|Ellis]], [[Freud]], [[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]], Stopes, [[Margaret Sanger|Sanger]], Mead, Reich) "were all Darwinians" and that [[genetics]] supplied "the new religionists" their gods ... the [[chromosome]]s of the sex cells.” <ref name="humanevents.com"/>
[[File:Beggar.jpg|thumb|right|175px|A child in [[Thailand]] where the nontheistic form of [[Buddhism]] called the Theravada school of Buddhism is prevalent. In 2010, the Pew Research Forum indicated that 93.2% of the people of Thailand were Buddhists.<ref name="pew2010">[http://www.pewforum.org/files/2012/12/globalReligion-tables.pdf Pew Research Center - Global Religious Landscape 2010 - religious composition by country].</ref> 
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[[Per capita]] [[atheism|atheists]] and [[agnosticism|agnostics]] in the United States [[Atheism and Uncharitableness|give significantly less]] to charity than theists even when church giving is not counted for theists.<ref name="barna.org">http://www.barna.org/barna-update/article/12-faithspirituality/102-atheists-and-agnostics-take-aim-at-christians</ref><ref name="findarticles.com">http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3647/is_200310/ai_n9340592/</ref><ref name="abcnews.go.com">https://abcnews.go.com/2020/Story?id=2682730&page=2</ref> ]]