On 13th September, the Herald in its 'Mirror' segment carried an
Opinion Piece by Bernard Simoes titled "Did Charles Darwin mislead
us?'. The same is available for viewing at http://tinyurl.com/npzrus
In the said Opinion piece, the author pins the blame for all the evils
that have afflicted mankind – terrorism, wars, racism, etc - on
Charles Darwin and his Evolution theory, calling it the bane of
Science.
Today's Herald Mirror carries a rejoinder by Patrick Ferdinand. The
same is appended below.
------------------------------------
Why blame Charles Darwin?
By Patrick Ferdinand
Mr. Bernard Simoes had written a diatribe against Charles Darwin and
his monumental work 'The Origin of Species', three weeks ago on this
very page of the Sunday herald Mirror(13 September), accusing him of
being the cause of all the ills that have afflicted mankind since its
publication, 150 years ago.
I have some answers to the doubts raised by Mr. Simoes, a
'Creationist' along with his tribe of Fundamentalist Christians, who
believe in the literal interpretation of the Bible. That the species
of all creation were created separate and have existed in their
separate forms, since the beginning of time till this date. He terms
'Evolution', a hoax and merely a theory, not a fact of science.
It astonishes me to know that people like Mr. Simoes do exist in our
own India, where of the six systems of Philosophical thoughts, two are
atheistic, apart from Buddhism. That down the ages, religious
literature in India has the largest volume of agnostic, skeptical and
atheistic writing than anywhere in Europe. And this was long before
Darwin and his Origin of Species appeared. Atheism has existed in
Europe, since the time of the Greeks. So what is Bernard Simoes
whining about? So much for his myth that Darwin ushered in atheism, in
the last 150 years…
That Darwin gave people license to promote racism and slavery. If
Bernard Simoes has read his Bible critically and not lapped up every
word as the word of God, he will realize that far from being the word
of God, the two Testaments, Old and New, are chaotically cobbled
together anthology of disjointed documents, composed, revised,
translated, mistranslated, distorted and improved by hundreds of
anonymous authors, editors, copyists unknown to us and to each other
spanning centuries. That it is a hotchpotch of Babylonian, Persian and
Egyptian myths, pseudo-History, ptolemaic geography and plenty of
sheer sexual vulgarity and gore.
At the same time it cannot be denied that certain books of the Bible
do contain sublime passages of outstanding moral and literary merit.
And why not? All so called religious books contain some merit, because
they contain the accumulated wealth of mankind. Man, being man, is
capable of sounding the heights and debts of human conduct. Another
proof, if proof be needed that-the Bible is a work of man, not God.
Further, he will learn that the God of the Old Testament, the Father
of the God of the New Testament, is the most unpleasant character in
all fiction; jealous, proud, petty unjust, unforgiving, vindictive, a
bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser, a misogynist, a racist, a genocidal
megalomaniac, sado-masochistic and capriciously malevolent bully. I
would advise Bernard Simoes to read his Bible again and if he has any
difficulty discovering such a God, kindly contact me and I will
provide him Chapter and verse from the Bible, which will substantiate
every attribute of God that I have mentioned, not of God, but the God
of the Old Testament.
As regards Black Slavery, it has been in existence since Biblical
times and even earlier. In fact, it is only in the last 150 years that
slavery has been abolished, thanks to the compatriots of Charles
Darwin.
As regards Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin, all were Christians, the
first two Catholics, the third, Russian Orthodox. Their misdeeds had
nothing to do with the theory of Evolution. They behaved as they did,
because their minds had not evolved since biblical times, just as
Bernard Simoes' mind is still fossilised in the Bible.
True, Evolution is still a theory; that is because Science is an
eternal search for the truth that is the beauty of Science. And what
is the story of 'Creation in Genesis', if not a pious myth? It is
Evolution, the theory that we have evolved from lesser beings, that we
still carry within ourselves part animal and part human
characteristics, that man can be both good and evil, not because of
'Original Sin' and the Fall of Man.
Science being Science has to proceed step by faltering step to get to
the truth, but the Church knows everything above, the same Church that
did not know, whether the Earth revolved around the Sun or the Sun
revolved around the Earth, till the 17th Century. Something that
perceptive Indians knew in the 5th Century AD.
Yes, Nazism, Fascism and Communism were perpetuated by Catholic
societies and Catholic Governments, that in fact banned Darwin. And
what about all the misery and suffering that afflicted mankind, since
the birth of Christianity? The condemnation of Jews for no fault of
theirs, who was responsible for the horrors of the Spanish
Inquisition, the burning of witches and heretics and dissenting
Christians? The unnecessary slaughter during the Crusades and the myth
of the 'holy and just war'? Where was Darwin then?
The pernicious consequences of racism, initiated by the 'God of the
Old Testament' when he chose Abraham and his progeny as his 'Chosen
People' and gifted them the whole of Palestine in Secula Seculorum are
with us till today. The Church taught this myth for two thousand
years. At the same time, the Jews were the perfidious race branded
'Christ- killers'. This myth boomeranged on the Jews, thanks to the
Catholic Church. Today, the tables are turned and the Jews, who
suffered the atrocities of the holocaust, are visiting the same
brutalities on the Palestinians, giving rise to Muslim fundamentalism
and Jehad. This new holocaust threatens not just the peace of the
Middle East, but the security of the whole world. Who is the Father of
this historic injustice? Certainly not Darwin.
Evolution still being a theory there is plenty of intelligent research
and scholarship in evolutionary science. The brainwashing is done by
those who believe that the Bible is the last word on everything under
the sun. There can be no research no questioning, since they know
everything, because the Bible tells them so.
No, Mr. Simoes, the Origin of Species does not lie, because Evolution
is an ongoing process. Evolution by Natural selection is NOT CHANCE
but a cumulative process.
To try to explain everything by quoting God is ignorance and mental
lethargy, dressed up in spirituality. Finally, as regards Evolution
and morality, organized Religion is an insult to human morality. With
or without it, you have good people doing good things and evil people
doing evil things, but for good people to do evil things, it takes
religion. Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they
do it from religious conviction.
------------------------------------
****************************************************
Mukto Mona plans for a Grand Darwin Day Celebration:
Call For Articles:
http://mukto-mona.com/wordpress/?p=68
http://mukto-mona.com/banga_blog/?p=585
****************************************************
VISIT MUKTO-MONA WEB-SITE : http://www.mukto-mona.com/
****************************************************
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".
-Beatrice Hall [pseudonym: S.G. Tallentyre], 190Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mukto-mona/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mukto-mona/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:mukto-mona-digest@yahoogroups.com
mailto:mukto-mona-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
mukto-mona-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
