Darwin and Hitler

A common tactic for ceationist is to link Darwin to racism, slavery and hitler. It is a bizarre idea because well, what are we supposed to think? Darwin was a racist, therefore his ideas must necessarily be wrong? How does that work? Or are they saying we should pretend Darwinism is wrong? You know, like they do. It just makes no sense. Virtually all biologists today accep the theory of evolution because of the overwhelming evidence and the opinions of he originator of the theory are irrelevant.

But what makes this tactic so odious is that the links to Christianity are far stronger. This is part four in a series of four posts.

Darwin and Hitler

Whole books have been written that pretend to a strong, direct link from Darwin's theory to Hitler's holocaust, such as From Darwin to Hitler: evolutionary ethics, eugenics, and racism in Germany by Richard Weikart, and there is even a movie that tries to make the case, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed.

Perhaps there are other possible links we should consider, and see which looks the strongest. What I am going to do on this page is compare Darwin with Martin Luther (founder of protestantism) and with the Bible, and see where the links to Hitler are strongest, firstly comparing the ideas advocated by Darwin, Luther and the Bible, and secondly by comparing the sort of esteem Hitler regarded them in.

If creationists say we should abandon evolution because it leads to Hitler, would they also say that we should abandon Christianity if it can be shown that it leads to Hitler?

Comparing the ideas

Darwin and Hitler

As discussed in an earlier post, Darwin wrote a book arguing that mankind was all one race; he was a pioneer against racism. In contrast, Hitler saw the Jewish people as a race apart.

Creationists make a big thing of "survival of the fittest". This was not a philosophy Darwin advocated, it was a phenomenon he observed. Further, what Darwin observed was a natural process, he even called it natural selection. Contrast that to Hitler's attempt to exterminater the Jews. This was not natural selection. Hitler's plan for a master race came not from Darwin, who stated we are all the same race, but from the Spartans (see the quote in the earlier post) and animal husbandry.

Comparing the ideas of the Bible and Hitler

Hitler considered the Jews to be a race apart, and this is exactly how the Old Testament portrays them. Of course, Hitler held them in low regard, while the Old Testament describes them as God's chosen people, but that difference is in the Bible too. The Jews are the Christ killers, the ones who rejected Jesus' message. The crucifiction account in Luke goes to some pains to absolve the Romans and blame the Jews for Jesus' execution (Luke was probably trying to sell the idea of Christianity to the Romans).

Luke 23:13 And Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people,
14 Said unto them, Ye have brought this man unto me, as one that perverteth the people: and, behold, I, having examined him before you, have found no fault in this man touching those things whereof ye accuse him:
...
20 Pilate therefore, willing to release Jesus, spake again to them.
21 But they cried, saying, Crucify him, crucify him.

These verses have been a source of anti-semitic feeling from the very early days of the Christian church.

Comparing the ideas of Luther and Hitler

Sadly, this is all too easy. Luther sets out a blueprint for the holocaust in his book On The Jews and their Lies:

Accordingly, it must and dare not be considered a trifling matter but a most serious one to seek counsel against this and to save our souls from the Jews, that is, from the devil and from eternal death. My advice, as I said earlier, is:

First, that their synagogues be burned down, and that all who are able toss sulphur and pitch; it would be good if someone could also throw in some hellfire...

Second, that all their books-- their prayer books, their Talmudic writings, also the entire Bible-- be taken from them, not leaving them one leaf, and that these be preserved for those who may be converted...

Third, that they be forbidden on pain of death to praise God, to give thanks, to pray, and to teach publicly among us and in our country...

Fourth, that they be forbidden to utter the name of God within our hearing. For we cannot with a good conscience listen to this or tolerate it...

-Martin Luther (On the Jews and Their Lies)

The comparison was well recognised by the German people of the time. For instance:

Many people confess their amazement that Hitler preaches ideas which they have always held.... From the Middle Ages we can look to the same example in Martin Luther. What stirred in the soul and spirit of the German people of that time, finally found expression in his person, in his words and deeds.
-"Geist und Kampf" (speech), Bundesarchiv Berlin-Zehlendorf, [cited from Richard Steigmann-Gall's The Holy Reich]

Comparing How Hitler Regarded Them

How Hitler Regarded Darwin

Hitler required all books about Darwin's theories to be banned. That alone is enough to destroy the claims of the creationists that Hitler held those theories in any regard.

6. Schriften weltanschaulichen und lebenskundlichen Charakters, deren Inhalt die falsche naturwissenschaftliche Aufkl?rung eines primitiven Darwinismus und Monismus ist (Haeckel).

6. Writings of a philosophical and social nature whose content deals with the false scientific enlightenment of primitive Darwinism and Monism (Haeckel).
- From here

Of course, that it is a documented fact that the Nazis wanted Darwin's theories burned does not stop the creationists pretending that the Nazis held Darwin's theories close to their hearts. Who cares about facts, when you have religious dogma to peddle?

 Here is a familiar creationist refrain:

The fox remains always a fox, the goose remains a goose, and the tiger will retain the character of a tiger.

“Mein Kampf”, p.528, Adolf Hitler

How Hitler Regarded the Bible

The Nazis were predominantly Christians, as was pretty much everyone in Europe at that time. The Wehrmacht (the army forces other than the Waffen-SS) had "Gott mit uns" (God with us) on their belt buckles. This page has numerous examples of artefacts connecting Christianity to Nazis.

Many prominant Nazis certainly saw themselves as carrying out God's will. For example:

…I have repeatedly emphasized the fact that the Jews should serve as an example to every race, for they created the racial law for themselves—the law of Moses, which says, ‘If you come into a foreign land you shall not take unto yourself any foreign women.’ And that, Gentlemen, is of tremendous importance in judging the Nuremberg Laws. These laws of the Jews were taken as a model for these laws

 - Julius Streicher, Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal, Nuremberg, 1945, Vol. 12

Many Christians claim Hitler was not a Christian. The truth is that the evidence is not at all clear. He was certainly not a conventional Christian, but his mother was a devout Christian, and sent him to a monastry school (from which he was expelled for smoking; see here).

Also:

Did Hitler believe in God? He believed deeply in God. He called God the Almighty, master of all that is known and unknown.
Propagandists portrayed Hitler as an atheist. He was not. He had contempt for hypocritical and materialistic clerics, but he was not alone in that. He believed in the necessity of standards and theological dogmas, without which, he repeatedly said, the great institution of the Christian church would collapse.

- Leon Degrelle, The Enigma of Hitler (from here)

What did Hitler actually say (taken from Wiki)?

"Hence today I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord.

The individual may establish with pain today that with the appearance of Christianity the first spiritual terror entered into the far freer ancient world, but he will not be able to contest the fact that since then the world has been afflicted and dominated by this coercion, and that coercion is broken only by coercion, and terror only by terror. Only then can a new state of affairs be constructively created. Political parties are inclined to compromises; philosophies never. Political parties even reckon with opponents; philosophies proclaim their infallibility.

The folkish-minded man, in particular, has the sacred duty, each in his own denomination, of making people stop just talking superficially of God's will, and actually fulfill God's will, and not let God's word be desecrated. For God's will gave men their form, their essence and their abilities. Anyone who destroys His work is declaring war on the Lord's creation, the divine will.

Hitler seems to have had some regard as Jesus, who he believed was an aryan and an enemy of the Jews, and most importantly, not the son of God. But Hitler was not an atheist; perhaps Deist would be the best word.

In any event, although his religious views were unorthodox, it seems as though the Bible was a significant influence on him. I am not arguing Hitler was a Christian, but that the Bible was a bigger influence on him than Darwin was. I think the evidence is quite clear that this is the case.

How Hitler Regarded Luther

Whether Hitler planned Kristallnacht at all is unknown, but Kristallnacht indicates the power of anti-semitism in Germany at that time, and it was this anti-semitism that Hitler exploited and symbolised. Kristallnacht was the 455th birthday of Martin Luther.

It has already been shown that Hitler advocated burning Darwin's books. What did Hitler think of Luther?

To them belong, not only the truly great statesmen, but all other great reformers as well. Beside Frederick the Great stands Martin Luther as well as Richard Wagner.
- Adolf Hitler, "Mein Kampf", Vol. 1, Chapter 8

How Hitler Regarded Evolution

Hitler was very much against evolution, and made that clear, as these quotes from Mein Kampf prove:

iron law of Nature–which compels the various species to keep within the definite limits of their own life-forms when propagating and multiplying their kind

This urge for the maintenance of the unmixed breed … prevails throughout the whole of the natural world … The fox remains always a fox, the goose remains a goose, and the tiger will retain the character of a tiger.

Indeed, Hitler was very much a creationist:

Whoever would dare to raise a profane hand against that highest image of God among His creatures would sin against the bountiful Creator of this marvel and would collaborate in the expulsion from Paradise.

it was by the Will of God that men were made of a certain bodily shape, were given their natures and their faculties. Whoever destroys His work wages war against God's Creation and God's Will.

All quotes from  "Mein Kampf". All prove beyond a doubt that Hitlewr rejected Darwin's theory.

Summary

	What he advocated	How Hitler regarded him
Darwin	All mankind is one race	His books should be burnt
Luther	Jews should be persecuted	He was one of "the truly great statesmen"... "great reformers"
Bible	Jews are a race apart, the Christ killers	"Hence today I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord."

Now, my thinking is not the same as a creationist, and to me it looks like there is a much stronger link from Hitler to Luther than to Darwin. But then, I am looking at facts, not make believe...

Addendum (5/Nov/13)

Just came across a web page that makes the point that there is no evidence Hitler read any of Darwin's books, but there is evidence that Churchill did:

From November to May I read for four or five hours every day history and philosophy. Plato’s Republic it appeared he was for all practical purposes the same as Socrates; the Politics of Aristotle, edited by Dr. Welldon himself; Schopenhauer on Pessimism; Malthus on Population; Darwin’s Origin of Species: all interspersed with other books of lesser standing.

From here:
http://sensuouscurmudgeon.wordpress.com/2010/07/05/hitler-darwin-and-winston-churchill/

Also see this interesting paper:
http://home.uchicago.edu/~rjr6/articles/Was%20Hitler%20a%20Darwinian.pdf

And this forum post:
http://forums.carm.org/vbb/showthread.php?221628-What-purpose-does-disseminating-dishonest-declarations-about-Darwin&p=6621376&viewfull=1#post6621376