Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

To: Ken H
Well, it MIGHT be...except I know that by those words you haven't seen the movie or the context in which it is affirmed Darwin's work influenced the eugenics or the Nazis.

After seeing the film, I responded to the ridiculous notion that Darwin was "taken out of context" in this post:

Free Republic thread regarding "Expelled"

If you want to know how "Expelled" really treats Darwin's words in regard to the sickening ideas of the 20th century, I think I do a decent job there.

As far as your link goes, though I haven't independently verified it, I will assume it is accurate. Certainly Hitler may have tried to invoke his so-called "religion" into his political speeches.

One thing I did notice: the small bit of the speech you gave was from 1922, some eleven years before Hitler's rise to power. At that point, it seems, Hitler was using any and all rhetoric to attract followers to his sick philosophy. Was Christianity a main stepping stone for him? Expelled makes a good case that Darwinism WAS a main stepping stone.

I also believe Hitler may have used some of Martin Luther's anti-semitic rantings in his own "Mein Kempf". But when Stein visits a memorial in Nazi Germany, a former "hospital" where thousands were murdered under the guise of medical experiments, the curator of the place points out that the cruelties inflicted there were justified not by Christiand ideals, but by Darwinian thinking.

How often did Hitler refer to Jesus as his "Lord and Savior" or even to Jesus at all after he seized power?

But "Expelled" also shows recreations of Hitler-era propaganda films, apparently after he was in power, (translated of course) that use language that is undoubtedly Darwin inspired.

I can also say that brave men and women, Christians, like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, died under the Nazi thumb because they spoke the truth that Christianity does not endorse the race-cleansing that Hitler pushed.

Anyone who thinks Christianity inspired Hitler as much as Darwin needs to re-think the issue. Clear thinking Christianity cannot logically lead to the desire to erase Jews from the planet, but the logical extension of Darwinism can (though not necessarily) lead one to eugenics and Nazism.

199 posted on 04/19/2008 3:17:48 AM PDT by Recovering_Democrat ((I am SO glad to no longer be associated with the party of Dependence on Government!))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 193 | View Replies ]


To: PatrickHenry

Prime!


200 posted on 04/19/2008 10:13:02 AM PDT by Hoplite
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 199 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson