Lincoln and religion

[Mike B.]

(03-23-2013 03:51 PM)My Name Is Kate Wrote:  I'm not into religious conversations either. It's just that any "little" thing is enough to shake up my faith, so I have to do everything I can to try to debunk it. It's pathetic...

Kate,
Let me reinforce what what Rob Wick said about "social darwinism" which is very distinct from biological evolution. Here is a part of a letter written to Ben Stein by Richard Dawkins, one of the chief evolutionary biologists today:

"4. Now, to the matter of Darwin. The first thing to say is that natural selection is a scientific theory about the way evolution works in fact. It is either true or it is not, and whether or not we like it politically or morally is irrelevant. Scientific theories are not prescriptions for how we should behave. I have many times written (for example in the first chapter of A Devil's Chaplain) that I am a passionate Darwinian when it comes to the science of how life has actually evolved, but a passionate ANTI-Darwinian when it comes to the politics of how humans ought to behave. I have several times said that a society based on Darwinian principles would be a very unpleasant society in which to live. I have several times said, starting at the beginning of my very first book, The Selfish Gene, that we should learn to understand natural selection, so that we can oppose any tendency to apply it to human politics. Darwin himself said the same thing, in various different ways. So did his great friend and champion Thomas Henry Huxley."

The creation of civilizations thousands of years ago has allowed human beings to survive who couldn't before that. "Social Darwinism" was a theory that was put forward in the late 19th century to explain why helping the poor was a waste, naturally it found favor among the very rich.

However, it is also a bit of a misnomer to say "survival of the fittest" just means the most strong biologically. Humanity has thrived through communication and cooperation. That may be in our genes as well.

I would also say that the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican church and most mainline Protestants, most branches of Judiaism officially accept evolution. So there is no need to be upset about it really.