Re: the cart or the horse ?

Steven H. Schimmrich (sschimmr@calvin.edu)
Tue, 29 Sep 1998 09:09:39 -0400

At 07:52 AM 9/29/98 EST, Al McCarrick wrote:
>
>In the current issue of SCIENCE and SPIRIT (vol 9, no 4), has an
>interesting paragraph in the news section (page 12). The editor refers
>to a book review appearing in New Scientist of A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS:
>DARWINIAN MYTHS, by Edward Caudill. At least one of the book's
>objectives is to argue that all those evil fruits blamed on the advent of
>Darwin's theory were already deep rooted in man and society.
>
>Reviewer Mark Pagel states:
>
> "The real danger lurks within us, not in Darwin's idea, which at most
>adds only a garnish of scientific logic to our worst tendencies."
>
>I think many of us would agree that slavery, eugenics, uncontrolled
>capitalism, etc. (think of Ken Hamm's tree picture) are not to be blamed
>on Charles Darwin, as if the world was peachy before. Man needs no
>excuse to do evil, but of course will take every opportunity.

Strongly agreed. I've seen Ken Ham's presentations and they're shameful.
After all, some of the strongest supporters of slavery in the past were
Christian Biblical literalists who justified it as the "curse of Ham" in
Genesis 9.

People are naturally sinful (original sin, total depravity, and all that)
and will seize upon any justification for sinful acts (be it "survival of
the fittest" or "burn the heretics").

- Steve.

--
   Steven H. Schimmrich, Assistant Professor of Geology
   Department of Geology, Geography, and Environmental Studies
   Calvin College, 2301 Burton Street SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546
   sschimmr@calvin.edu (office), schimmri@earthlink.net (home)
   616-957-7053 (voice mail), 616-957-6501 (fax) 
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