Hitler’s link with Darwinism

Mike Brass of the British Centre for Science Education has produced a short piece entitled ‘Charles Darwin and Adolf Hitler’, which attempts to show that Hitler was not influenced by Darwinism. But does this claim fit with what is known about Darwinism and Hitler? [1]

Brass claims that Hitler was not influenced by Darwin and provides apparent religious quotes from Mein Kampf, [My Struggle] where Hitler asserts for instance that he is acting with the will of the ‘Almighty Creator’ (Hitler 1933:262). It is well known that Hitler used religious language in this way in his speeches and writing, and often appealed to German national sentiment that linked the established Lutheran church with his nationalistic agenda. However, it was Hitler’s skilful use of rhetoric that blinded so many to his very un-Christian cause, although a number of German Protestant scholars, such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Karl Barth signed the Barmen Declaration, and rejected Hitler’s fascism.

Was Hitler influenced by Darwin?

Sir Arthur Keith for one thought that Hitler was an evolutionist. He comments

‘The leader of Germany is an evolutionist not only in theory, but, as millions know to their cost, in the rigor of its practice. For him the national “front” of Europe is also the evolutionary “front”; he regards himself, and is regarded, as the incarnation of the will of Germany, the purpose of that will being to guide the evolutionary destiny of its people.’ (Keith 1946:9)

In order to understand Hitler it is necessary to look beyond the simple rhetoric that has blinded Mike Brass. Hitler was in fact a pantheist believing that nature and god were one and the same with nature giving creative power over itself. This was a tradition in German philosophy stretching back to Spinoza, and Darwin’s German acquaintance Ernst Haeckel was for instance a pantheistic monist. This pantheism comes out in Hitler’s comments.

‘No more than Nature desires the mating of weaker with stronger individuals, even less does she desire the blending of a higher with a lower race, since, if she did, her whole work of higher breeding, over perhaps hundreds of thousands of years, might be ruined with one blow…When man attempts to rebel against the iron logic of Nature, he comes into struggle with the principles to which he himself owes his existence as a man.’ (Hitler 1933:260)

'No, there is only one holiest human right, and this right is at the same time the holiest obligation, to wit, to see to it that the blood is preserved pure and, by preserving the best humanity, to create the possibility of a nobler development of these beings. …and finally to put an end to the constant and continuous original sin of racial poisoning, and to give to the Almighty Creator beings such as He Himself created.’ (Hitler 1933:262)

In other words, for Hitler, the ‘iron logic of Nature,’ was the process of evolution, or ‘the principles to which he himself owes his existence as a man.’ For Hitler, nature, through the process of evolution was one and the same as ‘Almighty God,’ because he believed Nature had creative power over itself. Hitler also hated Christianity, claiming that he wish to abolish it.

‘I do insist on the certainty that sooner or later—once we hold power—Christianity will be overcome and the German church, without a Pope and without the Bible, and Luther, if he could be with us, would give us his blessing’ (Hitler 1942:369).

Can we link Hitler directly to Darwin?

There are likely a number of links from Darwinism to Hitler’s fascism, but perhaps the most notable is through Charles Darwin’s cousin Francis Galton. Darwin himself corresponded with Ernst Haeckel, but it was Galton who developed eugenics and was converted to atheism through Darwin’s Origins book. Galton wrote to Darwin shortly after publication of Origins that he felt.

‘…initiated into an entirely new province of knowledge…Its effect was to demolish a multitude of dogmatic barriers by a single stroke, and arouse a spirit of rebellion against all ancient authorities whose positive and unauthenticated statements were contradicted by modern science.’ (Galton: 1908:287)

Galton’s eugenics work written in Heredity Genius has come in for severe criticism with Brookes for instance commenting that ‘Galton’s central thesis’ was ‘deeply flawed’ and notable for ‘its lack of objectivity’ (Brookes 2004:142). But many were won over to eugenics. Galton wanted to improve the human race believing this is what nature (i.e. evolution) determined. He didn’t have much respect for democracy either.

‘It is the obvious course of intelligent men – and I venture to say it should be their religious duty – to advance in the direction whither Nature is determined they shall go, that is towards the improvement of the race….But it [Democracy] goes farther than this, for it asserts than men are of equal value as social units, equally capable of voting, and the rest. This feeling is undeniably wrong and cannot last.’ (Galton 1873:119,127)

It is interesting to note from the above how closely Hitler’s writing reflects the writing of Galton. One of Galton’s German supporters was Alfted Ploetz. Eugenics began to take off in Germany, and in 1904 Galton received a letter from Alfred Ploetz who founded a journal of eugenics in Germany entitled Archiv fǘr Rassen – und Gesellschaftesbiologie. Ploetz wrote to Galton that ‘We take the highest interest in your eminent and important Eugenics’ (Brookes 2004:275).

A year later Ploetz founded the German Society for Race Hygiene in Berlin. Heinrich Himmler also publicly embraced the eugenics of Alfred Ploetz, Galton’s German admirer (Brookes 2004:289). Whereas Brass comments from a preface to Mein Kampf that Hitler picked up many of his racist and fascist ideas from catholic Vienna, Weikart asserts that time spent in Munich played an important part in Hitler’s thinking (Weikart 2004:221).

According to Weikart, Ploetz was active in Munich and although there is no clear evidence that Hitler met Ploetz, both were close friends of Julius Lehmann, a publisher of medical, racist and eugenic material. Lehmann was a leading member of Ploetz’s organisation and publisher of the German nationalistic journal Deutschlands Erneuerung. Lehmann had been interested in eugenics from the 1890s and joined the German Society for Race Hygiene prior to 1914. During the 1920s Lehmann had regular contact with Hitler, and was at this time publishing racist and eugenic material (Weikart 2004:221).

Was Darwinism a purely scientific theory?

It is noteworthy that Darwin was influenced by social and political thought in writing, such as work by Malthus on population growth, Adam Smith on free economics and a general Victorian attitude to liassez-faire economics. Darwin’s theory also influenced the social Darwinist Herbert Spencer, who coined the phrase ‘survival of the fittest’ and justified exploitation of workers. As such the assertion that Darwin’s theory was a purely scientific theory is not entirely plausible. Himmelfarb for instance notes that.

‘The theory of natural selection, it is said, could only have originated in England, because only laissez-faire England provided atomistic, egotistic mentality necessary to its conception. Only there could Darwin have blandly assumed that the basic unit was the individual, the basic instinct self-interest, and the basic activity struggle. Spengler, described the Origin as “the application of economics to biology”, said that it reeked of the atmosphere of the English factory…natural selection arose…in England because it was a perfect expression of Victorian “greed-philosophy”, of the capitalist ethic and Manchester economics.’ (Himmelfarb 1962:418).

Summary

Despite the assertions of Mike Brass, it is quite clear that there is a link between Darwinism and Hitler’s fascism through for instance Francis Galton’s eugenics, although it is not established that this was Charles Darwin’s intention. However, Darwin took ideas from economics and applied them to biology, and did not object to Herbert Spencer and Francis Galton applying those biological ideas of evolution back to society. As such Darwinism cannot be seen as a purely scientific concept, but was a theory of its time embedded within Victorian economic, political and social thought.

It is also regrettable that the British Centre for Science Education has produced such a poor piece of research that overlooks the mountain of evidence that exists that shows the influence that Darwinism had on Hitler’s brand of fascism. Such poor quality research damages their claim to be representatives of good standards in British education.

[1] BCSE item: http://www.bcseweb.org.uk/index.php/Main/DarwinAndHitler

References

Brookes, M. (2004) Extreme Measures: The Dark Visions and Bright Ideas of Francis Galton, Bloomsbury Publ. Plc. London.

Galton, F. (1908) ‘Memoirs of my life: Chapter 20,’ Heredity, p.287 Methuen, London.

Galton, F. (1873) ‘Heredity Improvement,’ Frazer’s Magazine, Vol. 7, January.

Himmelfarb, G. (1962), Darwin and the Darwinian Revolution, W.W. Norton, New York

Hitler, A. (1933) Mein Kampf, tr. [1969] R.Manheim, Hutchinson.

Hitler, A. (1942) Hitler’s Speeches, edited by Prof. N.H. Baynes, Oxford.

Keith, A. (1946) Evolution and Ethics, Putnam’s Sons, New York

Weikart, R. (2004) From Darwin to Hitler: Evolutionary Ethics, Eugenics, and Racism in Germany, Plagrave Macmillan, New York

Carbon use and human rights - putting climate change into a Christian perspective

Climate change is not far from the news headlines with the general consensus being that global warming must be stopped or even reversed in order to save the planet. But what is the truth about global warming, and what should, or can be done to stop it?

The full article can be read here.

http://www.csm.org.uk/news.php?viewmessage=76

Conclusions

The evidence for man made global warming is equivocal, but it is considered likely here that a growing and developing global human population is having some impact on global temperatures. Another cause may be solar changes. But evidence from the fossil record shows that carbon dioxide levels and the average global temperature were significantly higher in the past, and in such a climate the environment thrived with an abundance of life throughout the ecosystem. Environmentalists need to address this evidence from the fossil record, which at present is largely ignored.

It can be shown that higher carbon dioxide levels lead to higher primary production and therefore higher crop yields with benefit to the global economy and global ecosystem. The natural environment is shown to have adapted to climate change in the past and this is true for whatever time frame is applied to the fossil record. The current increase in levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide fall within historic levels and should not be considered unnatural. But creationists recognise that the climate is now markedly different and direct comparisons with the past are problematic due to likely differences in the way the atmosphere responds to changes in carbon dioxide levels today compared to the pre-Flood period.

The main problems to address then are the ways in which climate change will affect human society. The greatest risk is that climate change may cause some major problems around the world with more severe and unpredictable weather, together with the risk of changes in sea level, but the latter is considered an unrealistic risk at present. However, by tackling the problem of global warming by forcing developing nations to slow or stop their development will have a negative impact on poverty reduction in the poorest nations. Developing nations have a right and duty to utilise their natural resources and reduce poverty, but within environmental constraints. Trying to restrict access to natural resources may well hinder the social development of some of the poorest countries, which would be morally wrong.

Calls to reduce carbon use are not based on the reality of historic carbon dioxide levels, nor are they based on the reality and needs of present day human population growth, but seem to have more to do with the ‘hot air’ of environmentalists and politicians keen to jump on the latest bandwagon.

The response to these social problems then should be to spend more on the development of mitigation strategies especially as a growing global population and growing prosperity will provide the resources to help protect against natural weather related disasters. A good proportion of the cost of this should be born by the developed nations and there is a need for fairness in use of natural resources and in terms of the cost of protection against adverse weather and climate. If there are effective ways of reducing human dependence on fossil carbon-based fuels without excessive taxation and damage to the global economy then these should be implemented, with such technological know how also transferred to the developing nations for maximum benefit.

Stuart Kauffman admits that biological complexity defies scientific explanations

There are some quotes from the complexity evolutionist Stuart Kauffman (2004, Prolegomenon to a General Biology, in Debating Design by Dembski and Ruse p166 & 172) that are worth remembering next time someone says ID and Creationism are just pseudo-science. Kauffman recognises complexity, but says nature is 'self organised' and he hopes that science will develop a fourth law of thermodynamics to account for such apparent 'self organisation,' as a naturalistic explanation for complexity. Kauffman is here assuming the truth of the thing he wishes to prove, and Behe's work on Irreducible Complexity is a direct challenge to Kauffman.

Kauffman says "The hoped-for fourth law of thermodynamics for such self-constructing systems will be that they tend to maximinse their dimensionality, the number of types of events that can happen next."p172

However, the Universal Probability Bound as highlighted by William Dembski shows that there are universal limits to 'what can happen next.' Many biological systems exceed the Universal Probability Bound by massive margins.

Kauffman perhaps recognises the problem. He comments; "And astonishingly, we need stories. If as I suggest, we cannot prestate the configuration space, variables, laws, initial and boundary conditions of a bioshpere, if we cannot foretell a biopshere, we can, nevertheless, tell the stories as it unfolds. Biospheres demand their Shakespeares as well as their Newtons. We will have to rethink what science is itself. And C.P.Snow's "two cultures," the humanities and science may find an unexpected, inevitable union.' p172

Kauffman says "We do not understand evolution...The strange thing about evolution is that everyone thinks he understands it."p166

The appliance of science

This is an excellent article by an environmental scientists on climate change in the Guardian.

"Politicians and the public look to scientists to explain the causes of climate change and whether it can be tackled - and they are queuing up to deliver. But, asks Mike Hulme, are we being given the whole picture? Wednesday March 14, 2007

http://environment.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,,2032821,00.html

"But there are two other characteristics of science that are also important when it comes to deploying its knowledge for the benefit of public policy and society: that scientific knowledge is always provisional knowledge, and that it can be modified through its interaction with society."

Interview with Creationist Kurt Wise

Creationist Kurt Wise has given an interview for BP news. Wise earned his Ph.D. from Harvard University in paleontology, studying under the late evolutionist Stephen J. Gould. As a result of Wise's commitment to Creationism, Richard Dawkins has called Wise “the greatest disappointment he knows in modern science.” That sounds like a badge of honour to me.

In the interview, Wise comments that evolutionists are motivated by fear in rejecting Creationism because belief in a Creator would make them accountable to God. Wise comments;

“If it’s true that there was a creation, then you realize that means there’s someone in control...And if there was a flood -- in other words, a creator who actually judged this creation -- that means we’re in big trouble. So I think there’s every reason why an evolutionist would be very frightened of creationists advocating creationism.”

Wise makes a very good point here - it reveals that the justification for evolution is not based on a purely rational and objective set of scientific criteria, but is based on an emotional response to a theological premise that God exists.

In terms of Creation and repeatable science, Wise commented that “... [Scientists] cannot deduce anything about a creation...[T]hey’ve never seen a creation before -- not a creation out of nothing of the universe. Their experience is limited to what they see and hear in the present. With those kinds of limitations, they couldn’t possibly deduce the right thing about the beginning of things.”

Wise also commented that evolution is itself a deeply religious belief. “Science drips with theology. You cannot do science without making theological assumptions.”

The full interview can be read here.

Creationist Kurt Wise critiques secular science on program

http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=25121

Sir John Houghton calls for Severn Barrage

Sir John Houghton, a practicing Christian and a leading climate researcher, has called for the construction of a Severn Barrage to help reduce CO2 emmissions noting that the Government should just get on with it. He also comments that wind power should not be the top priority because it destroys the beauty of the countryside. IC Wales reports him saying.

"We should get on with it [developing tital power] because we could get 20% of our electricity from tidal energy... Wind is not the only solution, and it's not the top solution and we don't want to cover our landscape with wind farms....With tidal power you know when it's going to come and unlike wind it's very reliable....But the Government has not seemed very interested in tidal for reasons that I don't understand."

From (Steve Dube, Rhodri backed on climate claims, Western Mail, Feb 23 2007 )

http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0700world/tm_headline=rhodri-backed-on-climate-claims&method=full&objectid=18663117&siteid=50082-name_page.html

Stuart Burgess in The Independent

Professor of Design and Nature Stuart Burgess has been interviewed in the Independent speaking about Intelligent Design. Burgess is also the well known author of Hallmarks of Design.

Stuart Burgess comments that science should be more open minded about design. He comments "Current scientific philosophy is to rule out completely the possibility that a creator was involved. But there is no scientific justification for making such a sweeping assumption. Science should always be open-minded."

You can read Against The Grain: 'There are strong indications of intelligent design' here

http://education.independent.co.uk/higher/article2246761.ece

Grand Canyon fault lines - Tom Vail's book under attack again

Tom Vail's book entitled Grand Canyon has caused a stir again, this time coming under attack from a group called Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Why such a group should consider attacking this book is a mystery as it doesn't seem to be in their area of interest - and they have got their facts terribly wrong, so much so that a leading evolutionist Michael Shermer has been forced into an embarrasing retraction.

You can read the full story here.

PEERing into the manufacturing of an anti-creationist urban myth
by Mark Looy, CCO, AiG–US
January 23, 2007

http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2007/0123peering.asp

A.E.Wilder-Smith - videos of talks available online

A.E.Wilder-Smith was a pioneer of Intelligent Design in biology, although ID wasn't recognised as something separate from Creationism then. Wilder-Smith was a leading academic, lecturing at Universities in the UK, Switzerland and America. he was also a Vice-President of the Creation Science Movement. One of those books, The Creation of Life a Cybernetic approach to Evolution inspired Dean Kenyon a leading proponent if ID.

“Dr. A.E. Wilder-Smith was one of the two or three most important scientists in my life. He very powerfully influenced my intellectual development and my change of opinion on the origin of man. His writings, in particular The Creation of Life and The Scientific Alternative to Neo-Darwinian Evolutionary Theory, and the discussions I had with him were outstanding and had a great impact on my views and thoughts on origins. He was a courageous, supportive and gracious man, and he is greatly missed.” Dr. Dean Kenyon - Professor of Biology, San Francisco State University

There is now a website dedicated to Wilder-Smith, and you can watch some of his talks on video. http://www.wildersmith.org/library.htm

Titles include; Logos in Biology, Is Biogenesis Scientific?

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Intelligent Design in the Guardian - article by Richard Buggs

Richard Buggs has written an excellent article in the Guardian on Intelligent Design. It has raised quite a lot of comment from Darwinists, upset no doubt to hear that they may have bought into a Darwinian faith system.

Richard comments;

'If certain Darwinists also had the intellectual honesty to distinguish between science and their religious beliefs, the public understanding of science would be much enhanced.'

Intelligent design is a science, not a faith

Read more here

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1985698,00.html

Spoiling the beauty of creation with wind farms

Like many urban socialists Polly Toynbee wants to destroy the beauty of the British countryside with highly inefficient, unpredictable wind turbines. As I live in Devon I object strongly to wind turbines being placed in rural areas, although as part of an urban landscape they may be acceptable.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1983176,00.html

Of course in order for such turbines to be economical, they have to receive big subsidies for business. And doesn't New Labour love getting cosy with big business in the name of progress?

Urban socialists tend to have an anthropocentric mindset with little concern for nature therefore missing out on the spiritual nourishment that comes from a love of God's creation. They seem to want to ruin further rural areas with ugly human industrialisation because they believe that nature is the product of a mindless process of evolution. Heavy industry has brought poverty and ugliness to many as can be seen in the once lovely Welsh valleys, now spoiled by the legacy of coal, iron and steel industries, poor housing, large factories and slag heaps.

To help understand why country people are so opposed to wind turbines, imagine if you would if someone from the country went to London and demanded that all the art work in the galleries should be viewed through a wire mesh. Rural people from the extremities of Britain do not want ugliness and poverty thrust upon them so that business friends of urban socialists can grow rich on subsidies under New Labour.

Renewable energy is important, and solutions would include localised biomass fuel and solar energy, highly efficient and clean smallscale waste to energy plants, (possibly a Severn Barrage) but wind turbines are not the answer for areas where preserving the beauty of the countryside is vitally important for quality of life and tourism. Localised solutions maintain control and wealth in local communities.

Government to allow Intelligent Design in schools.

The Sunday Times 31st December 2006 http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2524442_1,00.html reports that Lord Adonis, the education minister, is to allow teaching of Intelligent Design in schools under the RE syllabus.

The Times report comments that Adonis said in a parliamentary answer: “Intelligent design can be explored in religious education as part of developing an understanding of different beliefs.”

This followed action by 12 prominent academics, who recently wrote to Tony Blair and Alan Johnson, the education secretary, arguing for inclusion of ID as part of science in the national curriculum. The letter applauded the Truth in Science initiative, commenting that empirical science has "severe limitations concerning origins" and Darwinism is not necessarily "the best scientific model to fit the data that we observe". They asked the Government "...that, where schools so choose, you ensure an open and honest approach to this subject under the National Curriculum, at the same time ensuring that the necessary criteria are maintained to deliver a rigorous education."

The Truth in Science website has also reported on this letter.
http://www.truthinscience.org.uk/site/content/blogcategory/51/63/

Authors of the letter included Norman Nevin OBE, Professor Emeritus of Medical Genetics, Queen's University of Belfast and Antony Flew, former Professor of Philosophy at Reading University.

The other signatories of the letter were: David Back, Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Liverpool; Steve Fuller, Professor of Sociology at Warwick University; Mart de Groot, Director, Retired, Armagh Astronomical Observatory; Terry Hamblin, Professor of Immunohaematology, University of Southampton; Colin Reeves, Professor of Operational Research at Coventry University and John Walton, Professor of Chemistry, St Andrews University, as well as the three University Professors who are members of the TiS Board and Council.

Neutral mutations prove harmful.

Scientists have found that so-called neutral mutations are not as neutral as previously thought. Previous scientific theories considered neutral or silent mutations to have no effect on the expression of proteins. However, the latest research has shown that neutral mutations can have a serious negative effect on protein expression.

There are four types of nucleotides in the genome, labelled A,C,G,T, and every three letter sequence forms a codon, which codes for an amino acid. Four raised to the power three provides sixty-four combinations, but there are only twenty amino acids in the genome, as different codons are believed to code for the same amino acid. It was thought that silent mutations that change the letters of the codon, but do not change the amino acid have no effect on the way proteins fold and function.

However, the latest research by Kimchi-Sarfaty (2006) in Science has shown that even neutral mutations can in fact cause changes in the way the protein folds and functions.[1] The researchers studied three mutations that can alter the way a specific protein pumps toxins out of the cell. Tests involving small changes in this protein have shown that when two of the silent mutations are present it can change the shape of the protein and change that way cancer cells resist chemotherapy. Tests in lab dishes showed that when the silent mutations were present the cell was able to more efficiently block the drug that is used to halt the cancer cell’s development. It would also seem that evidence for the negative effects of silent mutations have been known about for twenty years, but largely ignored.[2] This latest evidence also ties in with comments by John Sanford in Genetic Entropy and the Mystery of the Genome [3] who claimed that even neutral mutations can have an accumulative degrading effect on the genome.

Other research has shown that silent mutations involved with the cystic fibrosis disease can alter the way a specific RNA molecule is spliced up and therefore change the shape of the protein rendering it inactive.[4] (RNA is involved in copying and translating the DNA and converting genes into proteins). Franciso Baralle comments that failure to identify the importance of silent mutations may have led to wrong diagnosis in some patients. It would seem that there is now a need to re-examine the effects that silent mutations have on genetic diseases and therefore improve medical research. Once again the theory of evolution has led to poor predictions in medical research.

As far as evolution is concerned the neutral theory was developed to overcome some of the problems associated with modelling genetics in evolution. J.B.S. Haldane for instance noted that in order for beneficial mutations to be fixed in a population, evolution by mutation must progress very slowly indeed. This slow process was considered necessary to give time for natural selection to weed out the far more numerous harmful mutations that would otherwise lead to error catastrophe in the population. There was also a very high cost in terms of excessive birth rates that higher vertebrates could not hope to meet, and Haldane saw in this a paradox that effectively falsified gradual neo-Darwinian theory. (See for instance: Walter ReMines, The Biotic message)

The Neutral Theory was developed to try and overcome this paradox. As an example, if it is considered that about one in a thousand mutations are beneficial, with fifty percent harmful with the rest neutral, then an increase in the number of neutral mutations would reduces the harmful ones, and seemingly helps to overcome the paradox that Haldane identified.[5] However, this latest evidence, that these neutral mutations are not nearly as neutral as previously thought, does further serious damage to the neutral theory and to the theory of macro-evolution as a whole.

References

[1]. Kimchi-Sarfaty C., et al. (2006), Science, doi:10.1126/science.1135308

[2]. See: Pearson, H., (2006), Silent mutations speak up, Nature, 21st December 2006 http://www.nature.com/news/2006/061218/full/061218-12.html

[3]. Sanford, J. C., (2005) Genetic Entropy and the Mystery of the Genome, Ivan Press

[4]. Pagani F., et al. (2005) Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA, 102. 6368 - 6372

[5] ReMines (1993) The Biotic Message, St Paul’s Science, pp.237-253 shows that the neutral theory does not provide selective advantage and it too has a high cost.