Atheists and all, what percentage of Christians have been lied to about Darwin and Nietzsche?

Question

Many Christians seem to think these men were into "extermination of the weak", and cite them as inspiration for Adolph Hitler. Were they lied to or are they just having a "winning streak" of poor reading comprehension?

Answer 1

I don't know if Darwin was into it or not but he did definately believe that the dark races were less evolved and that women were less evolved then men. That leave that part out though when teaching his theory to school kids. I'ss see if I can find that reference for you all. "At some future period, not very distant as measured by centuries, the civilised races of man will almost certainly exterminate, and replace the savage races throughout the world". Charles Darwin in the Descent of Man 1871 On women he said just before he married his cousin Emma Wedgewood the advantages of marrying were " aconstant companion, ( a friend of old age) who will feel interested in one, object to belovd and played with-better than a dog anyhow-Home and wsomeone to take care of the house Darwin 1958:232,233 Darwin reasoned that as a married man he would be a poor slave,... worse than a *****" but then reminisces that one cannot live a solitary life, with groggy old age, friendless...and childess staring in one's face, Darwin concludes his discussion on the philisophical note , "there is may a happy slave" and shortly thereafter married. He also said some of te traits of women "are characteristic of the lower races, and anti therefore of a past and lower state of civilization" 1896:563,564 He also concluded that the averge mental power of men must be above that of women Darwin, 1896:564

Answer 2

To be fair, understanding Nietzsche is quite difficult. His writing style was lyrical and poetic, so it's difficult to discern his greater ideas some of the time.

Having said that, anyone saying that about Nietzsche is woefully misinformed. His brother in law was part of the nacent anti-Semite movement, and he absolutely blasted him and his wife (Nietzsche's sister) for it in several letters to her. Granted, these weren't published untill the Fourties, so it was too late for anyone to rebut the arguments re: Hitler (as he was already in power and acting), but the fact is that while he did decry the "Jewdiazing" of Culture, he decried the mentality of it not the racial component. In that same sentence, he more attacked the Christians than the Jews, only mentioning them because it was from the Jews that the Christians came.

Nietzsche didn't think people should be exterminated, he just thought conflict brought about innovation.

Answer 3

100% of Christians have been lied to about Darwin and Nietzsche at some point.

I have no idea what percentage actually believed any of the lies.

However, unfortunately, the bit about Hitler is actually true.

Hitler did indeed use Darwin's writings as an attempt to scientifically justify his eugenics programs. The fact that he (and many others) completely misunderstood the actual implications of the theory, and made the common mistake of equating "survival of the fittest" with "survival of the most perfect" can hardly be blamed on Darwin.

This same misreading of the theory of evolution was also a key component in the philosophy of Lenin, and was used as a cornerstone in his revolutionary Soviet Communist doctrine.

The same misreading was also used by right-wing Americans to reject support of welfare, health care and other social programs. In fact, this policy was even known as Social Darwinism.

Absolutely none of these political philosophies were actually scientific in any way, shape or form, and none of them has any relevant connection to the actual theory of biological evolution through natural selection elucidated by Darwin, but they definitely used Darwin as pseudo-scientific justification for their own agendas.

This is one reason why it's vitally important to educate people about what the theory ACTUALLY says, and what it does not.

Answer 4

Christians, I personally have noted, not that anecdotal stories mean anything--passionately want to "disprove" or make "evil" the writings of various men. Darwin never indicated eugenics--darwin simply entertained the hypothesis that life is not static, that change in the environment invokes change in a species,that in the animal kingdom nature awards survival to the fittest of the species. Nietzsche likewise was simply a philospher with insights into the best and worst of man--neither of these wrote an instruction manual for genocide. Much like the moslem fundamentalist of today only want their vision of the world to survive, or the christian fundamentalist want their vision of religion to survive--ultimately perhaps what we are seeing is evolution of religion in action.

Answer 5

I won't make any claims for their reading comprehension -- or for their attention span, for that matter.

But to be fair, it's possible that church folks get lied to a lot. And who knows maybe some of the lies are about Darwin and Nietzsche.

One church munchkin recently told me that Darwin recanted evolution on his deathbed.

Answer 6

Darwin is a great dude who is given God like qualities for all the wrong reasons. (Poor guy)
In reading up on Nietzsche, I've found he had some serious father figure issues.

Answer 7

NOT 'extermination of the weak', Survival of the Fittest. And I didn't know until just this minute that it was a lie. I thought it was a quote FROM Darwin.

And correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Nietzshe dead?

Answer 8

I think that it's the result of poor interpretation.

Darwin said that some individuals in a species are better adapted for survival. Some people took this to mean that "certain races are superior to others" which is not at all what he intended (nor what he said).

Nietszche posited the existence of a "Ubermensch" who redefined morality. Some people seem to think that this means that a whole race of "Ubermensches" could do whatever they want.

Answer 9

You display unnecessary ignorance. READ DARWIN AND NEITZCHE, only then will you have the necessary background to comment. I would also recommend that you read Herbert Spencer--Darwin's intellectual predecessor, before further embarassing yourself in a public forum.

Answer 10

Yes, yes, we are ALL in favour of reducing the number of prisons and freeing inmates because our atheist breathren are incarcerated there. Atheists also lie about the statistics of religious affiliation for inmates to make it appear that LESS atheists than in the general population are in prison. How is the weather on your planet then?