Evolution's bottom line

National Center for Science Education ^ | 12 May 2006 | Staff

[PatrickHenry]

In his op-ed "Evolution's bottom line," published in The New York Times (May 12, 2006), Holden Thorp emphasizes the practical applications of evolution, writing, "creationism has no commercial application. Evolution does," and citing several specific examples.

In places where evolution education is undermined, he argues, it isn't only students who will be the poorer for it: "Will Mom or Dad Scientist want to live somewhere where their children are less likely to learn evolution?" He concludes, "Where science gets done is where wealth gets created, so places that decide to put stickers on their textbooks or change the definition of science have decided, perhaps unknowingly, not to go to the innovation party of the future. Maybe that's fine for the grownups who'd rather stay home, but it seems like a raw deal for the 14-year-old girl in Topeka who might have gone on to find a cure for resistant infections if only she had been taught evolution in high school."

Thorp is chairman of the chemistry department at the University of North Carolina.

[MineralMan]

"I will psuedoscientifically extrapolate if I feel like it!
"

Oh, dear.

[taking mlcnnnn aside]

You'll grow hair on your palms and your vision will deteriorate if you keep that up for long.

[jec41]

Hitler's Religion
by Anne Nicol Gaylor
The first legislative hearing I ever attended was in the mid-1960's at the Wisconsin capital, and the subject was the modernization of Wisconsin's birth control law. Wisconsin, the last state in the country to legalize contraceptives for unmarried persons, had a law until 1974 that was hostile to birth control for anyone and denied it to the unmarried, no matter what the circumstances. A fifty-year-old widower, for example, could not legally buy a condom.

Toward the end of the hearing, which had featured calm and reasonable presentations by professional people who supported liberalization of the law and emotional outbursts about morals from clergy and Catholic matrons opposed to change, a frail, elderly man took the podium. He explained that he was an atheist concerned with separation of state and church, and that he regarded the birth control issue as one where the Catholic Church was imposing its doctrine on the state, an observation that resulted in immediate uneasiness among the legislators hearing testimony, especially the Catholic chairperson. The atheist then began a brief summary of the historic problems of state-church entanglement, citing the bloodshed and wars in European history that were religion related. When he referred to religion's role in World War II and Adolf Hitler's Catholicism, the chairman of the committee became enraged, and, in a red-faced frenzy struck his gavel repeatedly until the elderly man tremblingly left the podium.

For some reason, Catholics are not eager to claim Hitler.

Even today, when I refer to Hitler's Catholicism in conversation or a speech, it immediately becomes apparent that I have said something "not quite nice," and I am often challenged. Nontheists, I then explain, know that many modern tyrants, whether petty tyrants such as Richard Nixon, or more successful tyrants such as Hitler, have regarded themselves as exemplary Christians, an estimate their followers had no trouble accepting. Hitler's religiosity -- he was a Catholic until his death -- is often glossed over, but it is critical in understanding his motivation.

I have often reflected, wistfully, on how much happier modern history might have been had Hitler been brought up as an atheist, an agnostic, or, at least, a Unitarian. Born and bred a Catholic, he grew up in a religion and in a culture that was anti-semitic, and in persecuting Jews, he repeatedly proclaimed he was doing the "Lord's work."

You will find it in Mein Kampf: "Therefore, I am convinced that I am acting as the agent of our Creator. By fighting off the Jews, I am doing the Lord's Work."

Hitler said it again at a Nazi Christmas celebration in 1926: "Christ was the greatest early fighter in the battle against the world enemy, the Jews ... The work that Christ started but could not finish, I -- Adolf Hitler -- will conclude."

In a Reichstag speech in 1938, Hitler again echoed the religious origins of his crusade. "I believe today that I am acting in the sense of the Almighty Creator. By warding off the Jews, I am fighting for the Lord's work."

Hitler regarded himself as a Catholic until he died. "I am now as before a Catholic and will always remain so," he told Gerhard Engel, one of his generals, in 1941.

There was really no reason for Hitler to doubt his good standing as a Catholic. The Catholic press in Germany was eager to curry his favor, and the princes of the Catholic Church never asked for his excommunication. Religions encourage their followers to hold authority in unquestioning respect; this is what makes devout religionists such wonderful dupes for dictators.

When Hitler narrowly escaped assassination in Munich in November, 1939, he gave the credit to providence. "Now I am completely content," he exclaimed. "The fact that I left the Burgerbraukeller earlier than usual is a corroboration of Providence's intention to let me reach my goal." Catholic newspapers throughout the Reich echoed this, declaring that it was a miraculous working of providence that had protected their Fuhrer. One cardinal, Michael Faulhaber, sent a telegram instructing that a Te Deum be sung in the cathedral of Munich, "to thank Divine Providence in the name of the archdiocese for the Fuhrer's fortunate escape." The Pope also sent his special personal congratulations!

Later the Pope was to publicly describe Hitler's opposition to Russia as a "highminded gallantry in defense of the foundations of Christian culture." Several German bishops openly supported Hitler's invasion of Russia, calling it a "European crusade." One bishop exhorted all Catholics to fight for "a victory that will allow Europe to breathe freely again and will promise all nations a new future."

Biographer John Toland wrote of Hitler's religion: "Still a member in good standing of the Church of Rome despite detestation of its hierarchy, he carried within him its teaching that the Jew was the killer of god. The extermination, therefore, could be done without a twinge of conscience since he was merely acting as the avenging hand of god -- so long as it was done impersonally, without cruelty. Himmler was pleased to murder with mercy. He ordered technical experts to devise gas chambers which would eliminate masses of Jews efficiently and 'humanely,' then crowded the victims into boxcars and sent them east to stay in ghettos until the killing centers in Poland were completed."

Jews, of course, were not the only "holy" victims. In Yugoslavia, Hitler installed a Croatian, Ante Pavelic, as his puppet, and Pavelic, a Catholic like Hitler, began extermination of the Serbs, who were Greek Orthodox. One of my relatives by marriage is a Yugoslavian, a Serb, who survived World War II by going "underground" with the advent of Nazism in his country. Out of his immediate family of 17 (this includes his parents, siblings, aunts, uncles and first cousins), only three survived. His mother and sister just disappeared, his mother shortly after being given the opportunity to convert to Catholicism, an offer she refused. The Vatican was not unaware of the massacres conducted in Yugoslavia in the name of Catholicism, but Pope Pius remained diplomatically quiet. In fact, one of his actions was to receive Ante Pavelic in private audience, thereby giving his blessing to this regime.

War's causes, of course, are complex, but it would be difficult to overestimate the disastrous role religion played in World War II. Distrust, fear and hatred of Jews was a lesson Hitler learned early in life. It was taught by his church and reinforced by his culture. It became his obsession, his version of "the Lord's work." That Hitler, that supreme villain of the 20th century, could see himself, and be seen by others, as "providentially" guided, protected and inspired should certainly serve as an ominous clue to the dangers of religious belief. Just as the Vatican umbrella could be maneuvered to shield the massacres of Serbs by Catholics in Yugoslavia, so can religion validate any behavior, any atrocity, any war.

[freedumb2003]

Neither does governments unless you are on the receiving end

True. Tithing and taxes are pretty much the same (from a "wealth" perspective). The difference is voluntary vs mandatory.

[mlc9852]

See post #18. LOL

[MineralMan]

"Evolution is no more "godless" than relativity."

Well, I dunno...relativity...ain't that when cousins marry up?

[CarolinaGuitarman]

"Previously, I thought maybe it was morally useful for weak non-disease resistant beings to die and for the stronger members of the breed to survive and spread their greater genes."

That's your problem. :)

"Now I recognize that altruism and cooperation are "evolved traits" and useful parts of being human."

Not just human; cooperation can be found throughout the animal world.

"Strange how I get so easily confused on this matter. I wonder what keeps causing that? I hope it is not religion."

Probably just a lack of information.

[CarolinaGuitarman]

"It is, nevertheless, ID."

It's design by humans. It does NOT, in any way, have anything to do with ID as proposed by ID'ers.

[Virginia-American]

Whenever there is an observation that doesn't fit into the evolutionary paradigm, it is either ignored or the evolutionary theory becomes ever more preposterous to accommodate it

Or, as in the case of the Piltdown Man fraud, it's debunked.

[shuckmaster]

an Earl Warren-style proponent of federal supremacy and governance by federal judicial decree

Paranoid much?

[MineralMan]

"I suppose there are closet atheists, though I have no way of knowing."

---

Not really, mlcnnnn. We atheists already checked the closets, and didn't find any deities in there, either. A goblin or two...they're useful for frightening children, but no deities.

We're still looking in various places, but most common places a deity might hide out have been examined already.

[betty boop]

Religion always comes with an implied threat.

Not to me, Doc. To me, it's about living in Truth. Everything else flows from that one premise.

[andysandmikesmom]

I think for many pushing these books and such, this is only a business for them, they have found a way to make a fine living...I am not even sure, that some among them , actually have a solid religious faith...I am sure some do...but as we have seen within the realm of the TV preachers,and the TV faith healers, for many of them, they paid less attention to faith and salvation, and more attention to how much money they could earn, and how many grand things they could buy...and some landed in jail for their 'good works'...

I am sure that many creationists writing their books, and producing their tapes, are earnestly carrying out what they feel is 'Gods work'...on the other hand, I am convinced that many of them care more about their financial bottom line, than they do about God....

[mlc9852]

Well, MM, don't give up the search. Better yet, let God find you.

[js1138]

Much of the Old Testament was not written down until the Babylonian captivity, or even later. That's a couple thousand years of telephone. I recall what FReepers said about "Roots" when it was claimed that the oral tradition was essentially error free.

[cccp_hater]

Which came first? Complex organisms or simple organisms? Were there dogs on the planet before single celled organisms? Did God create the least complex organisms on the planet first and then over time create more complex organisms or were they all populated on the planet at the same time?

[atlaw]

That's the religion that says kill the infidels, right?

And one of the many religions that proclaim you (and me) wrong, with accompanying "so-what" consequences of a rather unpleasant nature. Hence, a reason to be cautious in the deployment of Pascal's wager.

[puroresu]

Don't you have a link on your webpage to an article praising Judge Roy Moore? For his commitment to God and the Ten Commandments? Then you come here and rail against Christianity and Bible Thumpers.

Schizophrenia much?

[MineralMan]

"Well, MM, don't give up the search. Better yet, let God find you."

I'm not hiding. In 60 years, it hasn't happened.

[Elpasser]

Out of curiousity, tell me the three CONCRETE observations that persuade you that all living things evolved from non-life and/or a strand of rna/dna.

Hey, I'll go first. Here are 3+ observations (among many) that persuade of the necessity of creation and impossibility of evolution:

1. the complexity of vision
2. the complexity and fragility of rna/dna
3. ditto for the simplest cell capable of reproducing itself
4. sexual reproduction -- who went first?
5. if humans "evolved" due to superiority in the survival-of-the-fittest race, why did we lose our protective hair? Strength? Precociousness of infants? Basic survival instincts in childbirth, etc.? Makes no sense that a creature inferior in these respects would outcompete the others and, before you tout bigger brains, etc., explain why body hair, etc. came at the cost of bigger brains.

Your turn. And please, no platitudes or generalities

[PatrickHenry]

200?