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Charles Darwin and the Methods of God

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by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  This here article was written with some reluctance, first because the linked article is a book excerpt. Second, it is from the Discovery Institute, the main site of the Intelligent Design people. Regular readers may have noticed that I am using material from that site a bit more, but I tend to include biblical creationist material in my write-ups. This one is worth doing because other biblical creationists and I want people to learn how  to think, while atheists and secularists tell them what  to think. Some things about Darwin's logic need to be addressed. Charles Darwin dancing with the devil in the pale moonlight via Bing AI, which made the devil resemble  Homo habilis There are disagreements about whether or not Charles Darwin was an atheist, especially since he claimed agnosticism. Part of his dancing with the devil in the pale moonlight was his determination to put down creationism, viewing it as unscientific. His way of dealing with it was through met

The Fading of the Alleged Fact of Evolution

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As discussed here several times before, a movement, revolution, or other large effect on a society seldom spontaneously generates. Mayhaps you have heard how something was "ahead of its time" or the world was not ready for it. Conditions were not right for that thing. Other sweeping changes occur, leaving people wondering how they took root. Slowly. Charles Darwin is treated like a brilliant scientist for creating evolution, but that is the opposite of the truth . The conditions in Victorian England were right for his conjectures, and the prominent Huxleys helped him out . Darwin caricature, 1871, Vanity Fair , modified at remove.bg At the time of Darwin and even before, people were becoming more blatantly rebellious to God and disrespectful to the Bible. (Interestingly, the only degree that Charlie earned was in theology, which lends credence to the suggestion that he lifted the biblical creation narrative and was making a naturalistic religious text!) Many factors came toge

Evolutionary Racism and the Tasmanian Genocide

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Many evolutionists become incensed when the racism inherent in their belief system is discussed, although some scientists are finally admitting this fact. Charles Darwin's Victorian myth of evolution had white English males as the pinnacle of evolution, but women were inferior . Creationists are sometimes accused of blaming Darwin for racism although it had already existed for millennia. True, but justifying racism with evolution has existed before Darwin ( he did not create evolution) , and it increased tremendously after his version of evolution. This is demonstrated in the horrific genocide of the Tasmanian people. Group of natives of Tasmania , Wikimedia Commons / Robert Hawker Dowling , 1859 (public domain) Perceived as an unevolved nonhuman race, European settlers murdered Tasmanians and rounded them up for relocation. Skeletons and body parts were put in collections, both private and in museums. (Tasmanian women were raped, showing the inconsistency of the invaders, who did

Hugo de Vries and the Evolution of Darwinism

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As seen before, big ideas and movements rarely spring up suddenly. Charles Darwin did not create evolution , it is an ancient pagan philosophy going back to the Greeks, Hindus; the first evolutionist is the god of this world (2 Cor. 4:4). Indeed, Darwin was also influenced by Lamarck, his grandfather Erasmus, and others.  Charlie even hijacked and retooled Edward Blyth's work on natural selection for his own purposes, making it a creative force. (His acolytes over the years have even made it into a being with the power to make choices.) Apparently he backed off a bit by the time Origin of Species reached its final edition. Sun obscured by tree, Mt. Tremper (NY) trail, 14 Sept 2022 by Cowboy Bob Sorensen Darwinism was embraced by academia — finally a way to get that pesky Creator out of their lives! There was a time that Darwinism was at risk of falling out of favor because of its substantial problems. People aware of Gregor Mendel's work in genetics (peas be upon him) thought

Creation, Speciation, and Galápagos Finches

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A famous icon for evolution is referred to as Darwin's finches, even though he did not know what they were when he saw them on the Galápagos islands. For someone seeking an exotic bird, look elsewhere because these are rather plain. These finches demonstrate rapid speciation. According to Darwin and other purveyors of evoporn, evolution is supposed to be random and over long periods of time. Exceptions to those rules are seen frequently. Evolutionists are so determined to keep away from the Creator, they cling to irrational science. Galapagos ground finch, Flickr / Judy Gallagher ( CC BY 2.0 ) Poster effect at PhotoFunia and cropped Rapid speciation...depending on the definition of species, of course. Scientists frequently slap leather over whether or not some critters are a separate species. Interestingly, there are some parts of the genome that simply will not modify. Others do have random changes. The Master Engineer designed creatures to survive and thrive, and frontloaded ce

Darwinist Haushofer Influenced Holocaust Views

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People seldom develop concepts on their own. They get inspirations and influences from a variety of people. If one ponders how they arrived at their religious or political beliefs, several influencers will probably come to mind. Adolf Hitler had a great deal of help with his evils . He has sparked research by historians, psychologists, and others who want to learn how he gained power, and able to commit so many atrocities for several years. Hitler wrote Mein Kampf , but many of his thoughts were under the inspiration of Karl Haushofer. Karl Haushofer, circa 1920 (colorized at Img2Go , further modified) There were evolutionary views before Darwin, and Haushofer was among those who welcomed Darwin's ideas. It is interesting that the idea of Lebensraum (struggle for living space) was asserted to be the duty and even the moral right of the superior race to take land away from the inferior races. Haushofer was all for it. — but did anyone ask, "How do you know?" What determin

Alfred Russel Wallace, the Victorian Outsider

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Over at Evolution News and Science Today , an Intelligent Design site operated by the Discovery Institute, Alfred Russel Wallace is receiving a great deal of attention in his bicentennial year. Professor Michael A. Flannery has written a book and several articles about Wallace. A spell back, I wrote about whether or not we would have evolutionary theory if Charles Darwin had never been born . Since evolution is ancient, it would have been assembled and popularized in a "scientific" format. Alfie almost did that, but Charlie got to the publisher first. Alfred Russel Wallace, ca. 1865 A.F. Wallace did quite a bit of science, but he was eclipsed by Darwin . A problem for him both then and now is that he dabbled in many areas, some of which seemed frivolous. Wallace seemed like an interesting individual. But the Bearded Buddha focused on his own specific areas, which was apparently applauded instead of the multi-faceted aspects of Alfred. Also, Wallace was a kind of forerunner of

The Divine Plan for — Blushing?

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Although darker-skinned people do it as well, blushing is very noticeable in people of European descent. Some blush easily and others may not ever. It is considered attractive, and women's makeup includes a blush tint. Fish, animals, and flowers may have reddish tinges that are called blush. Charles Darwin did not appreciate the notion of his time: Blushing was designed by God to display human shame. (Mayhaps that is true, but this child is not convinced.) What is interesting is that apes and other animals do not do it. Blushing bromeliad, Flickr / Tanaka Juuyoh ( CC BY 2.0 ), an article on the flower is here Darwin's disciples try to evosplain blushing, but they cannot get around the fact that it does not contribute an "evolutionary advantage." And why is it confined to the face and neck? Interestingly, blushing seems to be caused by an adrenaline release because of an emotional trigger. (It just occurred to me that it would be interesting to see if there's a si

Variations in Traits are Designed, not Random

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A word that is commonly used in discussions of genetics is alleles . Simply put , they are pairs of genes, one from each parent, that match. Alleles are on the chromosomes. They often have slight differences, and those as well as similarities affect organisms. People have tried to figure out where new traits that were not in a lineage came from. The Bearded Buddha had some ideas that he put into his version of natural selection. Gregor Mendel pioneered genetics (peas be upon him), and his research showed that Darwin was on the wrong trail. Wallkill Rail Trail at Kingston, NY, Unsplash / Cowboy Bob Sorensen (modified at PhotoFunia ) For a long time, it was believed that random mutations married up with natural selection to drive evolution. It was learned that DNA is heavily influenced by epigenetics . Evidence also shows that the Master Engineer designed living things to adapt, change how genes are expressed, and environment does not cause the changes. Sorry, Charlie. No, not really so

Charles Darwin and the White Supremacists

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Something that many of totalitarian dictators and even mass murderers of the last 150 years or so is holding to belief in Darwinism. Evolution is not just a theory for academics to discuss and for ordinary people to accept because they said so. Instead, it is a worldview used to interpret science and morality. Unfortunately, white supremacy will never go away. Those sidewinders are known for despising people with darker skin, but they have particular venom for Jews. Leftists label many people as "far right" including white nationalists, but leftists as well as alleged Conservatives were joining in with hatred for Jews. People worshiping statue of Darwin, made by AI at Bing Although the Intelligent Design people wrongly want to keep God out of the discussions, an article makes a point — which is often made by presuppositional apologists. That is, if Darwinism is right, nobody  can condemn Hamas for attacking the Jews. When atheists say that something is morally wrong, they are

Racial Brain Collecting and Evolution

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Everyone has presuppositions and worldviews, and these things drive science. Secular science assumes that the universe is billions of years old and that cosmic, chemical, biological, and other evolutions happened. Biblical creation science affirms recent creation, and modifications are not evolution. Evolution extends beyond academic and scientific discussions and influences the lives of people. While people disliked other ethnic groups different from their own, Darwinian evolution (and modifications) gave rise to "scientific racism" and greatly increased the problem. Smithsonian Building, Wikimedia Commons / Noclip (modified at Fotosketcher ).jpg Evolutionists often become incensed when it is pointed out that Charles Darwin was a blatant racist. Some try to improve history , but the facts cannot be changed. In the Victorian era and later, scientists attempted to justify racism and eugenics. They insisted that darker people were physically and mentally inferior to white folk

Birds of the Galápagos and Natural Selection

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It may seem that when creationists mention natural selection, we are giving Darwinists a foothold. Wrong-o! Natural selection was first discussed by creationists, then the Bearded Buddha hijacked and twisted it for his own agenda. The true concept is very real. Darwin was on what must have been an exciting five-year mission aboard the Beagle , and there was a long stop at the Galápagos islands. We looked at the tortoises , now we will consider the even more iconic birds. Flightless cormorant, WikiComm / Lip Kee ( CC BY-SA 2.0 ), modified at PhotoFunia Environments change, so living things must adapt to survive. Interestingly, evolutionists maintain that the loss of features  (such as when certain insects and birds — cormorants — become flightless) is evidence for their conjectures, but the truth is quite the opposite. Also, the islands have boobys, which are closely related to gannets. There are three main varieties that have differences in their actions. Natural selection at work. T

Galápagos Tortoises and Natural Selection

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The voyage of the Beagle  where Charles Darwin gathered inspiration to add to his evolutionary conjectures would have been a dream cruise for many folks (his father paid for it). If someone took a notion to meet Charlie on the Galápagos, he would have had to saddle up and ride west from Ecuador. Except that horses cannot swim that far. Some of the giant tortoises have shells that kinda sorta resemble saddles, however, so there you go. Those are found in the uninhabited smaller islands of this group of volcanic islands. For being a great scientist, Charlie dropped the ball on making detailed observations of these critters. Giant Galapagos tortoise, Flickr / Sara Yeomans ( CC BY 2.0 ), modified at PhotoFunia On a side note, all tortoises are classified as turtles, but not all turtles are tortoises. Tortoises don't spend all that much time in water . These critters were once plentiful, but are now endangered. One reason is that whalers and others discovered that they were good eats.

The Falkland Islands Wolf and Reduced Date Range

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There was a critter on the Falkland Islands that puzzled Charles Darwin and others, since it seemingly should not be there. It had several names such as the warrah, Falkland Islands wolf/fox. It became extinct partly because people wanted to kill it to own its fur. Some pinheads thought it was a threat to sheep. Stuffed specimens exist in museums, and some interesting research involved taking samples of their mitochondrial DNA and comparing it (and mutations) with South American canids. The Warrah may have been a descendant of the maned wolf. Falkland Islands warrah/fox/wolf, WikiComm / John Gerrard Keulemans (public domain), modified at Pixlr So how and when did it get to the Falklands? The DNA testing is problematic for adherents of deep time because it conflicts with when secularists say canids entered South America. There is speculation that the warrah crossed land bridges, or possibly rafted on floating vegetation. New evidence suggests that Fuegian Indians were in the Falklands

Sanitizing Darwin's Racist History Again

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Sometimes when creationists bring up Charles Darwin's racism, it puts  burrs under the saddles of his followers. They claim it is an ad homiem  and a distraction, but the fact remains despite their protestations. It has also been extensively documented. His racism is extremely relevant, as it is entrenched in his evolutionary conjectures. We saw how a couple of his biographers falsely tried to say that his theory had a noble motive , the abolition of slavery. Professor Joseph L. Graves, Jr. is up to something similar. Celebration of Abolition of Slavery...in 1866 via NYPL , colorized at Palette , then modified at PhotoFunia The professor is celebrated as the first black man to get a doctorate in evolutionary biology, and my response is, "Big deal." Evolutionary biology is self-serving and has little value to real science. Also, how many black people are attracted to studying something this area? (Asking for a friend.) Seems strange to prop up a field where your "rac

Charles Darwin was not a Slavery Abolitionist

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Disciples of Charles Darwin try to brush aside or ignore his view of women as inferior , and especially his blatant racism . Some build a straw man by claiming that we said evolution is racist when we talk about scientific racism and other extensions of his conjectures. There have been owlhoots who claim that saying Darwin was a racist is an ad hominem , but that conveniently ignores the fact that his beliefs were fundamental in his development of evolution — ideas have consequences . People also point out that he was opposed to slavery, and a couple of authors try to make Charlie appear to be a passionate abolitionist. Public domain image, run through removebg , colorized at Palette , flames added at LunaPic A couple of biographers wrote a book that portrayed Darwin as someone who was concerned with the abolition of slavery. His work on species was with abolition in mind. When Dr. Robert F. Shedinger gave the tome close scrutiny, he realized it was stuff and nonsense. Sure, it was

The Huxleys and Darwinian Deviance

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A spell back, we discussed how the Huxley family was promoting Charles Darwin's myth of origins by developing conspiracies , but they wanted to keep up appearances in Victorian England. Looking proper was important in that era, perhaps more so than it is today. One reason is that they wanted to promote evolution, but did not want their activities to besmirch Papa Darwin. What was under the surface did not remain hidden much longer. For many atheists, Darwin is a sacred character. Satire, irreverence, and the truth about him are not to be tolerated. Some folks in the secular science industry are iconoclasts, willing to pull his statue off the pedestal and be straightforward about him. In addition, the extreme immorality of the Huxleys (who were some of Darwin's biggest supporters, remember) are shown as bearing bitter fruit. It is worth considering that evolution is the necessary creation myth for those who deny God. It is not just an intellectual choice (since the evidence for

Evolutionism and the Vietnam War

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Although the phrase, "Ideas have consequences," originated in a 1948 book by Richard M. Weaver and is now almost a cliché, it still holds some validity. Misotheists get furious — furious , I tell you — when the truth about Charles Darwin's concepts are discussed by creationists. Although he did not directly  originate eugenics and social Darwinism , those developed from his teachings. Evolution had a direct influence on Hitler . Another gang of sidewinders that adored Darwin was the communists . There are others as well. Darwin's ideas also had consequences that were manifested in the Vietnam War. UH-1D helicopters in Vietnam 1966, US National Archives , US Department of Defense, public comain (usage does not imply endorsement of site contents by anyone) Some jasper commented on a recent post, "As far as I know, Karl Marx never killed anyone." Maybe not personally, but his ideas hitched up to Darwinian concepts have led to the deaths of millions . American

Deception in Eye Evolution Story

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The Bearded Buddha admitted that the gradual evolution of the eye seemed absurd. Presupposing his conjectures and refusing to consider any other explanation for the origin of the eye, he believed by blind faith that evidence supporting his ideas would be found. Disciples of Darwin have been trying to meet his challenge for years. There are sidewinders who simply avoid the challenge by saying that the human eye was poorly designed, but such a religious claim is based on opinion, not science. Cat eyes, Pixabay / Christel Sagniez It is not just the human eye, though. There have to be gradual stages of development and organisms had to benefit each step of the way.  National Geographic  attempted to support Charlie in 2016, but that effort was shot down by Dr. Elizabeth Mitchell. A more recent contender arose in something called Visual Capitalist , but this deceptive Just-So Story also fails. Indeed, there is dissent in the ranks about not only the evolution of the eye, but how particles-to

Darwin Succeeded through Huxley Conspiracies

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That title got your attention. While it is provocative and possibly emotive to use the word conspiracy , it is not done casually in this case. People who are attracted to the history of science (and a bit about the culture of Victorian England) should be interested in what follows. The Huxley name was held by several noteworthy individuals, especially Thomas Henry and his son Julian. T.H. was considered Darwin's Bulldog  because of his aggressive promotion of evolution, and Julian carried on the activities in many ways. There were many factors that made Darwin's story successful, including Victorian society and how people supported each other. The Huxleys were instrumental in bringing Darwin to the fore and keeping evolution going. Something very interesting is how that sidewinder T.H. didn't really believe in Darwinism, but something more akin to Gould's punctuated equilibrium . He used Darwin and evolution as a means to distance science from God. Both Thomas and Julia