Darwinian Racism, Past and Present – Discovery Institute

Photo: Museum of Criminal Anthropology in Turin, Italy, by John G. West.

A new episode of ID the Futurespotlights Darwinian racism, past and present. In this first half of a panel discussion at the 2022 Center for Science & Culture Insiders Briefing,Darwin Day in Americaauthor John West introduces the other panel members, notes an upcoming book,Darwin Comes to Africa, and discusses his experience visiting the Museum of Criminal Anthropology (pictured above) in Turin, Italy, where the work of infamous Darwinian criminologist Cesare Lombrosos racist ideas about evolution and race are on dramatic display. Then historian Richard Weikart, author ofDarwinian Racism, debunks the popular media claim that white nationalist racism in America is a Southern evangelical phenomenon. Weikart shows that the most prominent white nationalists demonstrate little if any interest in promoting Christianity, but they very consistently anchor their racist ideas of white superiority and the racial struggle for supremacy in Darwinism, with straightforward links to Charles Darwins own ideas and arguments inThe Descent of Man.

Weikart emphasizes that Darwinism does not necessarily lead its adherents to racism and, in fact, most Darwinists today are not racists. But racist ideas were woven into modern evolutionary thinking from the beginning and do serve as a major inspiration for white nationalist writers and even for some recent mass shooters. Weikart ends his lecture with a twist. He says there is one strongly anti-racist component in Darwinian materialism: such materialism, if true, means that all humans are equally without value just so many DNA survival machines in a world without higher purpose or meaning. A grim takeaway, but only for those who feel compelled to embrace modern Darwinism. If you are open to questioning it, there are a wealth of resources here and atintelligentdesign.orgshowing that the evidence points strongly in another direction. Download the podcast or listen to it here.

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Darwinian Racism, Past and Present - Discovery Institute