Nazi Soldiers Indoctrinated with Darwin? How Convenient.

Posted on September 24, 2011 by Bob Seidensticker

Why were the Nazis so disagreeable? Because they were force-fed evolution, of course! Christian podcaster Greg Kokul thinks he’s uncovered the Nazi/evolution connection.

In a recent Stand to Reason podcast (starting at 5:00), Kokul spoke of being informed that German soldiers during World War II were issued two books, Goethe’s Faust and a German translation of The Origin of Species. And it was Hitler himself who insisted that they get them.

(Wow—right out of the gate we’re embracing Godwin’s Law!)

About the logic behind Hitler’s assigning these books, Kokul says:

It’s because the ideas in The Origin of Species served [Hitler’s] purposes well, and if a person actually believed what Darwin taught, then they would make good Nazis.

My first complaint is that Kokul accepted the story uncritically. This story nicely supports his worldview that evolution is both harmful and wrong, so he passes it on with no fact checking. I do my best to take the opposite approach: when I find a delicious story that skewers an opponent (either a person or idea), I want to make sure that I have strong evidence so that I don’t look ridiculous after passing on flawed hearsay.

In doing my own research on books issued to German soldiers, the only page I came across was a post in another atheist blog (IAmAnAtheist) who’d heard the podcast and asked the very same question. That blogger raised a great point: Why issue those two books and not Hitler’s own Mein Kampf?

That Origin was a central part of Nazi thinking seems unlikely. The official Nazi library journal in 1935 listed twelve categories of banned books. One category was:

Writings of a philosophical and social nature whose content deals with the false scientific enlightenment of primitive Darwinism and Monism.

(If anyone comes across evidence for this books question either way, please add that to the comments.)

Now let’s move on to critique Kokul’s ill-informed ramblings on evolution. One of Kokul’s favorite ploys is to try to tie eugenics with evolution.

First off, Darwin himself rejected eugenics. In The Descent of Man, he said, “No one who has attended to the breeding of domestic animals will doubt that [not culling the inferiors] must be highly injurious to the race of man.” Creationists enjoy quoting just the paragraph that contains this sentence and ignoring the very … next … paragraph where he overturns this argument.

Darwin rejected eugenics, Greg. Of course, you’ll be quick to backpedal and argue that Darwin’s own personal opinions say nothing about the validity of evolution. Agreed! Which is why whether or not Hitler kept his copy of Origin under his pillow says nothing about the central issue here: Is evolution the best explanation of why life is the way it is? Which is why this entire conversation is simply mudslinging.

“Hitler was bad, and Hitler and Darwin were BFFs! And Darwin was ugly! And … and he probably ate babies! And didn’t recycle!” Whether true or not, it’s irrelevant.

This is what one does when one doesn’t actually have a real argument.

Science is not policy. Evolution is science (the domain of scientists), and eugenics is policy (the domain of politicians). Any scientist who advocates eugenics has left the domain of science and jumped into policy. Eugenics isn’t science, and criticism of eugenics is no criticism of science.

Which brings up the last point: Did Hitler base his eugenics policies on evolution? Kokul seems to imagine a kind and gentle Adolf Hitler, picking up litter and helping little old ladies cross the street, being turned to the scientific Dark Side® after reading Darwin. But wasn’t there plenty of anti-Semitism around already? Didn’t Martin Luther himself write the violently anti-Semitic On the Jews and Their Lies?

This bypasses the issue: Is evolution correct? Bringing up eugenics is not only flawed but irrelevant.

It’s the white flag of surrender.

Photo credit: Wikipedia

The Stand to Reason podcast archives are here. The podcast referenced here is from August 21, 2011.
“Six Things in Expelled That Ben Stein Doesn’t Want You to Know…” Scientific American, 2/11/09.
Full-text version of Charles Darwin’s The Descent of Man available here.
“Hitler was a True Christian™,” Pharyngula blog, 10/27/11.

Do We Really Trust in God?

Posted on September 23, 2011 by Bob Seidensticker

Is it really true that “In God we trust”? With what do we trust him? It might indeed make Christians feel warm and fuzzy to see that motto on U.S. currency, but do they actually believe it?

This was the question recently asked in an excellent article, “In God We (Do Not) Trust.”

Using prayer as a little extra insurance when times are tough is one thing. But who would pray instead of using evidence-based means? Who would pray for safe passage across a busy street rather than looking and using good judgment? Who would pray to fix a car? Who would pray for healing rather than use a cure proven effective by modern medicine?

That is, who would actually trust that God will take care of important things without some sort of safety net?

Indeed, the government has made clear that that’s not the way things work. In response to preventable deaths among minors within the Followers of Christ church, a Christian denomination, Oregon recently removed laws protecting parents who rejected medical care for their children in favor of faith healing.

As the article says about faith healing,

It is tantamount to the state saying, “Sure, it looks great on a coin, but come on you idiot, it’s not as though this god stuff actually works.”

For atheists, “In God We Trust” on currency and as the official motto of the United States is one of those pick-your-battles things. It’s in blatant violation of the First Amendment (“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion …”), but issues such as injury from faith healing are more important and deserve more attention.

But let’s look for a moment at what we discarded to make room for this motto. E Pluribus Unum (Latin for “Out of many, one”) was the de facto motto before the adoption of “In God We Trust” in 1956. That certainly showed those atheist commies which side of the theological fence we were on. But this came at a price.

One trait that is special about America is that we’re composed of people who came from all over the world to pull in the same direction to make a great country.

Out of Many, One. Which country would this motto fit better than America? Out of Many, One—a custom-made inspirational reminder of who we are and where we came from.

And we flushed it down the toilet in favor of “In God We Trust,” a one-size-fits-all poncho that could be worn by a hundred countries.

Photo credit: kevindooley

Colin Flannery, “In God We (Do Not) Trust,” Humanist Network News.
Mark Twain has an unhelpful experience with Christian Science healing.
The Far Left Side has an excellent comic illustrating this.

Christian Shenanigans Mar 9/11 Remembrance

Posted on September 10, 2011 by Bob Seidensticker

Did you hear about the “Miracle Cross”? It’s a 17-foot-tall piece of rubble found in the aftermath of the 9/11 attack. Out of all that wreckage, it’s not too surprising that the intersection of two beams had broken to make a cross-shaped piece of steel. It wasn’t even found at the Twin Towers site but rather at 6 World Center, but it has become a religious relic.

The shape could just be a coincidence, or it could be a sign from God. If the latter, I’m not sure what to make of the fact that the only evidence of God participating was his business card. In the rubble. And this evidence of God-not-doing-anything is now highlighted as a holy relic.

Hmm—that it’s just a coincidence is starting to sound a lot better from the standpoint of the Christian. (But if you want a commemorative two-inch-high statuette of the Miracle Cross, it’s available in handsome pewter for the low, low price of only $12.95.)

Anyway, this cross is now a controversial addition to New York City’s soon-to-be-completed National September 11 Memorial & Museum.

American Atheists and New York City Atheists are suing to have the cross removed. Their remedy is to return it to St. Peter’s Church, two blocks from Ground Zero, where it had been for the past five years. Since half of the museum’s financing has been provided by the government, that sounds a lot easier than giving equal time to all the religions that don’t have a cross as their symbol.

There’s another controversy Continue reading →

Creationism Lacks Qualified Spokespeople

Posted on September 9, 2011 by Bob Seidensticker

David Berlinski, part of the Discovery Institute’s evolution-denial project, recently said about evolution:

That’s not a theory. That’s just a string of wet sponges on a clothesline.

Uh huh. Here’s (1) a guy who’s not a biologist (2) criticizing a theory in biology (3) that happens to be the scientific consensus. (4) Overwhelmingly.

Slick packaging and bypassing the scientific process to sow confusion among the public doesn’t change the fact that there’s no argument here.

Wake me up when the scientific consensus changes. Until then, no layperson has an intellectual warrant for embracing Creationism.

Check Out “Ask an Atheist”!

Posted on September 2, 2011 by Bob Seidensticker

What time is it? Is it between noon on Friday 9/2 and noon Saturday 9/3? Then check out the Ask an Atheist “BlogTV Marathon II: the Son of the Curse of the Penultimate Reckoning”! Yes, that’s the Ask an Atheist radio show and podcast that highlighted nutty Harold Camping’s not-so-accurate prediction of the Rapture with its weekly “Countdown to Backpedaling” update.

Here’s what they’re up to:

We need to pay the bills to keep our godless heathen voices in the media, and to that end, we’re announcing our second BlogTV 24-hour marathon event. That’s right, we’re going to deprive ourselves of sleep from noon on Friday, September 2nd, until noon on Saturday, September 3rd in an attempt to entertain you, answer questions, interact with our listeners, debate, and discuss.

It’s like being invited to the cool kids’ party, except instead of cool kids, it’s the cast and crew and friends of Ask an Atheist! Come join us as we host our next BlogTV event! Even if you’re thousands of miles away, you can participate in this one!

For those of you who can’t make it in person, join us on BlogTV as we take questions from the audience, and slowly entertain you to our deaths over a non-stop period of 24 hours.

Contribute your time, enthusiasm and/or money to help Ask an Atheist continue on the air and on the Internet!

I’ll be hanging out for part of the time. Hope you can check it out! More.

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