February 27, 2021

Subject: Darwin and Scientific Racism Part 3 – The Tasmanian Genocide

Exodus 20:2,13 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery… You shall not murder.”

Genocide is the deliberate murder of a large group of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the goal of eradicating that nation or group. It is an intentional targeting of a people group for extinction.

Only God, the Creator of life, has the right to take human life. He expressly forbids murder, which is the immoral taking of human life. History reveals that genocide, a human invention, is often tied to racism: the Nazis with the Jews, the Bosnian Serbs with the Muslims, the British against the Tasmanian Aborigines.

What is racism? Charles Winick’s Dictionary of Anthropology defines it as “the inherent superiority of certain races that stirs up prejudice and hatred for races said to be inferior”. “Inherent” superiority?

Anthropology, the study of human societies and cultures and their development, includes in its early definition this notion of “inherent superiority” of “one race over another”? How did this make its way into the definition? You will find even today that it includes the “evolution” of human biological and physiological characteristics.

Racism has its very roots in evolution. Marvin Lubenow, in his book “Bones of Contention”, lists 3 elements central to racism: “First, racism involves differences in population groups, not in individuals. The popular word today for those differences is the term ‘diversity’”. What does our culture mean by “diversity”? Thomas Sowell challenges anyone to define it! It comes out of Darwin’s theory in the differences between races.

“Second, the crucial factor in racism is ‘inherent superiority’. Throughout most of history, this ‘inherent’ superiority was based upon some vague belief that one’s own group was for some reason superior to others. Since the 1800’s and the rise of evolution with its ‘scientific racism,’ the emphasis has been on genetic superiority. According to Darwin, evolution preserves that ‘inherent superiority’. When applied to humans, this ‘inherent superiority’ of some race or group over others is properly called ‘racism.’

Third, racism always involves prejudice and rejection. Whereas the qualities of love and acceptance always unite, racism, with its hatred and rejection, always divides. That is why racism is evil. A ‘loving racist’ is a contradiction in terms. Because evolution is racist, it is an evil philosophy. Most of us focus on the alleged ‘scientific’ aspects of evolution. Few consider the moral implications and ethical consequences of evolution.

Inherently superior or ‘more fit’ groups: Evolutionists believe that two groups in the same environment cannot coexist. Over time, one will acquire mutational advantages, out-compete the other and survive, being more ‘favored’ or ‘more fit’. The other, being less favored or less fit, will die out. Evolutionists claim that nature works by Darwin’s ‘natural selection’ to cut out the weak and allow the strong to proliferate.”

The Tasmanian Aborigine genocide was Darwin’s “natural selection” in full flight. The Tasmanians, numbering around 5,000, lived in on a tiny island south of Australia for thousands of years. The first Europeans to arrive described them as intelligent, friendly, kind, with strong families. But within a few years, the destruction of the Tasmanians was called “a deed of merit and an act of necessity.” While we shudder at Hitler’s ‘final solution’ for the Jews, that was what the British actually did to the Tasmanians.

Jared Diamond, in his 1993 Discover article “Ten Thousand Years of Solitude”, described what happened to the Tasmanians: “When British settlers poured into Tasmania in the 1820’s, racial conflict intensified.

Settlers regarded Tasmanians as little more than animals and treated them accordingly. At a hill christened Mount Victory, settlers slaughtered 30 Tasmanians and threw their bodies over a cliff. One party of police killed 70 Tasmanians and dashed out the children’s brains. In 1828 the Governor of Tasmania declared martial law, permitting Europeans to shoot on sight any Tasmanian found in European-settled areas.”

The scientific community asked for Tasmanian skulls and body parts, to prove their theory that Tasmanians were the ‘missing links’ between Stone Age men and fully evolved whites. Darwin’s ‘Origin of Species’ would be in print 25 years later, providing the scientific justification for this as well as all ensuing genocides against what continues to be taught in schools: the “natural selection” of “favored species”.

Imagine what would happen if we returned to teaching our children the merits of biblical morality in place of evolution’s “tooth and claw”, survival of the fittest, morality? That is a rhetorical question.

Ed Croteau is a resident of Lee’s Summit and hosts a weekly study in Lees Summit called “Faith: Substance and Evidence.” He can be reached with your questions through the Lee’s Summit Tribune at [email protected].