Book Finds Missing Link Between Evolution, Racism

PETERSBURG, Kentucky, Jan. 15 /Christian Newswire/ -- Author Ken Ham and theologian Dr. A. Charles Ware take a groundbreaking look at one of the human race's greatest problems – racism – in "Darwin's Plantation: Evolution's Racist Roots." Along the way, they also tackle the questions of the origin of all the people groups, skin "color," and interracial marriage,

Ham is the president of Answers in Genesis and the new Creation Museum, ministries that uphold the authority of the Bible from the very first verse. Ware is the president of Crossroads Bible College (training Christians to reach a multiethnic urban world) and a national leader in promoting multiethnic ministry.

With Darwin's birthday coming Feb. 12, and his 200th birthday and the 150th anniversary of the publication of "On the Origin of Species" little more than a year away, the time seems right for an accurate assessment of his legacy.

Ham and Ware show that although racism certainly did not begin with Darwin, his beliefs did more to fuel racism than the ideas of any other single individual. "Racism is a consequence of sin in a fallen world infused with evolutionary thinking," Ham writes.

The subtitle of Darwin's "Origin of Species" is "The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life." Darwin himself writes in "The Descent of Man" that he would rather be descended from a monkey than a "savage."

Even Stephen Jay Gould, the late leading evolutionist, agreed that the publication of "Origin of Species" had a negative impact on the discussion of racial issues. "Biological arguments for racism may have been common before 1859, but they increased by orders of magnitude following the acceptance of evolutionary theory," he wrote.

Ham and Ware note that evolutionary theory made its way to American shores during the time of the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation (the 1860s).

"Without the legal ability to enforce slavery, many people turned to the theories of Darwin to justify racism in its many forms," the book says. "They began to use evolution as justification of their views that African-Americans were an inferior 'race' and a 'sub-species' that was not really fully human and not deserving of fair and equal treatment."

Ham, originally from Australia, studied environmental biology at the Queensland Institute of Technology. He notes that the remains of perhaps 10,000 Aborigines, some slaughtered as "specimens," were shipped to Britain to prove that they were the "missing link."

Perhaps most tragically, Hitler used evolutionary thought to justify his concept of a "master race" and the extermination of the Jews and other so-called "inferior" groups of people.

"As soon as one believes that human beings have evolved from creatures of lesser intelligence, it is an easy corollary to assume that some people groups are more evolved than others," the book says.

Ultimately, though, the book is not about assigning blame. Instead, it sets out a Biblical blueprint for harmonious race relations. In fact, with man's history of racial conflict, the authors say that "GRACE (God's Reconciliation At Christ's Expense) relations" provides a much better model than race relations. This concept mirrors the teaching found in a compelling exhibit inside the Creation Museum on the origin of the different people groups.

Ware adds: "'Darwin's Plantation' presents the scientific and Scriptural case for the origin of the so-called races and of their skin color and eye shapes, plus what the Scriptures teach about still-controversial issues like interracial marriage."

The authors paint a picture of a world where churches are multiethnic and interracial marriage is no longer a problem. How can this happen? According to this book, it can only happen when Christians accept the Bible's truth that there is only one race – the human race (Acts 17:26; Genesis 1).

Answers in Genesis is a biblical apologetics ministry which conducts more than 300 teaching meetings each year, hosts an award-winning Web site and produces the "Answers" radio program heard on more than 900 stations throughout the United States. The high-tech Creation Museum, which opened in May, has seen over 300,000 visitors in less than eight months of operation.

Crossroads Bible College is a Christian undergraduate institution in Indianapolis whose particular concern is to train men and women of many cultural and ethnic backgrounds for effective roles in Christian service.

My point would be that the findings of science are not affected by their possible misuse, any more than the makers of guns are responsible for their misuse.

I agree. As I said in post 27, "Eugenics is actually contrary to true Darwinism, which rested upon natural selection, not manipulated selection."

My position, when I've argued against current evolution instruction in schools has been against post-Darwinism, that which is currently taught in our nation's schools. Post-Darwinism is bad science. Whether misuse is done by theists or atheists matters less to me than misuse versus use.

As for Darwin and racism, any honest person who reads about him would find that he argued against slavery at times and places where it caused him considerable personal inconvenience.

I think Darwin was an agnostic, so use of him by atheists to promote their beliefs would be as much of a misuse of him (his work) as those who claim his theory has been responsible for eugenics.

He probably believed that isolated groups of people could differ, as a group, in many kinds of abilities. In the abstract, I’m not sure there is a way to argue against that.

Gasp! Back to political correctness reeducation camp for you.

So what if some unknown evangelical leaders supported that? Even though they were just going along with the flow of the current thinking of the day, they were wrong. So where was the outcry against thinking like that from the scientific community? Or the enlightened intellectuals of the day?

Oh right, they were busy starting the public school system and promoting abortion and racism, like Sanger and her contemporary thinkers.

Christianity in no way supports that kind of thinking, on the contrary....

Luke 14:12-14 Then Jesus said to his host, "When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

Gal 3:28There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Any casual reading of Scripture will find that those less fortunate than yourself are to be treated with special honor. No one is to mock deaf people or put stumbling blocks in the path of the blind and crippled.

Agreed 100%.

As for not changing a person’s mind, providing this information to people could change someone’s opinion, just as another FReeper here said. I know I was surprised to learn about Darwin’s son and family. I never knew about them until you mentioned them on this thread. And that information has given me a different perspective.

agree with what you say...natural selection is NOT racism nor does it carry a political agenda....

Thanks. But wagglebee's point that the eugenics movement originated with the idea of a selection process can't be disputed, imho, even if Darwin himself didn't intend for his research to be taken in that direction.

knowing the violence that some in the black community are prone too, is it racist or is it wisdom to avoid black neighborhoods when you're alone or in a small group?

Given the crime statistics in predominately black communities that everyone hears about, I'd call it an understandable reaction.

its one thing for the Busing proponents to make it a law that your or my kid has to travel to unfamiliar neighborhoods to attend school, many miles and hours from home, but to send their own kids to public school?.....never....

I have a problem with the whole idea of government-run schools, with or without bussing. And, yes, so many politicians are hypocrites.

Have you read "The Bell Curve"?

Nope. I watched an interview with one of the authors when the book first came out. It was all I had to hear to know the book wasn't worth my time. But, I probably will assign the book - and its refutations - to my children for reading when they're old enough, just so they will be aware of those theories.

But, I probably will assign the book - and its refutations - to my children for reading when they're old enough, just so they will be aware of those theories.

My son was given some of the refutations in one of his education classes. The Prof told him he should not read the book.

My son was given some of the refutations in one of his education classes. The Prof told him he should not read the book.

That's pretty funny. The best lesson probably would be to assign the original book and then tell the student to refute it in a written report.

That is an interesting question. Part of the answer is that they did not have clear ideas of such things. We still don’t, of course, in fact nobody has a clue what to do and the closest similarity might be the time of Judges in the OT where everybody did what he thought best.

Oddly enough, Darwin's monogenic theory of common ancestry was in some respects less racist than the special creation theories of Louis Aggasiz it supplanted. Aggasiz was no proponent of Adam and Eve. He was a polygenist, holding that species more or less appeared in their present form where they were discovered. This meant that Africans, Amerindians, Asians, and Europeans were not necessarily part of the same species.

Louis Menand's The Metaphysical Club has more on this.

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