But let biologist and science writer David Bainbridge tell it, riffing off his new book, How Zoologists Organize Things: The Art of Classification:
The respected German über-Darwinist Ernst Haeckel perpetuated the myth of evolutionary progress when he claimed influentially that Judaism is an evolutionary intermediate between primitive paganism and advanced Christianity, and when he asserted that non-Europeans are “physiologically nearer to the mammals—apes and dogs—than to the civilized European. We must, therefore, assign a totally different value to their lives.”
Zoology must fight hard to decontaminate itself from the value judgments and skewed arguments of the past. Already, we no longer speak of animals as primitive or advanced, and those concepts have become meaningless in the context of humans too. Additionally, the human species is no longer considered to be gouped into a number of discrete races, but rather an array of populations, each adapted to its ancestral geographical environment, yet blurring genetically and culturally into its neighbors.
David Bainbridge, “Zoology’s Racism Problem” at The Scientist
The article starts by referencing the death of George Floyd as having “wide-ranging impacts” in getting science boffins to confront this stuff. It’s awful that anyone had to make that happen.
Note: An excerpt of Bainbridge’s book is available.
See also: Darwinian biologist Jerry Coyne contemplates the idea that Darwin might be Canceled. But here’s the really interesting part: Coyne points to a medallion struck by Darwin’s wife’s family, the Wedgwood (who were abolitionists). But the medallion fits creationism far better than Darwinism.
Racism is a human problem so it exists in the sciences, the arts, religion, all areas of human activity. We are still slowly and painfully trying to work our way free of it but it won’t be quick and it won’t be easy and it won’t happen at all until we all admit that the seeds of it, at least, are in all of us.
Yes, Darwin and the people of his generation held what we now judge to be racist views, so did people long before Darwin published his work. How could they have been other than people of their time? Future generation will no doubt pass similar judgments on attitudes and behaviors that we now take for granted. All we can do is to treat our fellow humans – all of them, not just our particular tribe – as we would like to be treated ourselves.
Racism is the belief that one race is superior to all others. The Zulus under Shaka believed they were the superior tribe and slaughtered everyone in their path until they went up against the British. Mexico teaches that they are racially superior for no other reason than being born in Mexico, which is why La Raza is a racist organization. Racism exists in the United States. Organizations like the Klan still exist, but fractured with no leadership. Black power is every bit as racially motivated as brown power and white power.
The United States has had black people at all levels of government and business. Rather than call everyone who is an American citizen Americans, hyphenated Americans continue to exist. That hyphen is racially motivated. Cities run by Democrats make it difficult for people to start their own businesses. Red tape stands in the way and there is no demand to remove even a layer of bureaucracy.
The American “experiment”, a story of a representative republic of “We the People” has resulted in a nation that has struggled through racism to a point where today systemic racism has been eliminated in government and much of the culture. Where it exists, and it certainly does, it is in individual and group bad choices.
The story of American racial struggles, though often times an ugly story, should not be rewritten and destroyed as is being done with Critical Race Theory and the New York Times 1619 project. We have much to be proud of as a civilization.
I have put together an allegorical story of America – take a look:
https://ayearningforpublius.wordpress.com/2020/07/03/from-little-acorns-mighty-oak-trees-grow/
The origin of representative government in the United States started at Jamestown. 1619 was the year the first laws were written by a legislative body. They were based on English Common Law and made no reference to slavery being legal.
https://oll.libertyfund.org/pages/1619-laws-enacted-by-the-first-general-assembly-of-virginia
Seversky states:
Hmm, ?, perhaps Seversky is just forgetful of the little fact that Wilberforce, and other Christian reformers, “had spent decades in the early 19th century teaching Britain to view non-European races as their equals before God. In a matter of years, Darwin swept not only God off the table, but also the value of people of every race with him.”
Besides overlooking the fact that Christian reformers in Britain had been successful in ending slavery in Britain before Charles Darwin came along and severely set back their work in view ng races as equal, Seversky is also all too willing to overlook comments like the following by Charles Darwin,,,
That comment, which directly follows from Darwin’s own theory, is simply unacceptable. It is morally unacceptable now, and it was also morally unacceptable then. Moreover, it is now known to be a scientifically false claim.
Seversky also suggests that,
Could Seversky possibly be referring to the current widespread practice of abortion?
Despite Seversky attempt to make excuses for Darwin’s theory, the fact of the matter is that not only does Darwin’s theory denigrate certain races, but Darwin’s theory also ends up denigrating all of humanity in the process of denigrating certain races:
The horror and misery that Darwin’s theory unleashed on the world is hard to imagine or exaggerate,
How Seversky does not recoil in horror to the fact that he champions such a morally abhorrent theory, I have now idea. Does Seversky even have a heart?
Verse:
1 Seversky
Your darwinian apologetics fail. Darwin was a despicable racist.
Darwin and “The Savages”
__________
Those are Christian teachings, not “darwinian” ones. Darwinism is amoral and its core value is “survival of the fittest”.
@sev
You are right racism is a human problem completely verifies and supported by the scientific theory known as Darwinian evolution. Great news right, I’m mean the nazis literally used it as a reason to purge jews
There isn’t a scientific theory known as Darwinian evolution. Scientific theory and Darwinian evolution only belong in the same sentence under that context.
I know it’s not I’m being sarcastic
The English Reformation did far more than bring an eventual acceptance of non-Europeans, it brought an acceptance of Jews. Joachim Gans was the first practicing Jew to set foot on the soil that would eventually lead to the 13 colonies turned states.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/americas-first-practicing-jew-america-finally-gets-his-due-180973186/