THE REJECTION OF GOD AND THE EMBRACE OF DARWIN IS A LOADED GUN
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Historian Richard Weikart insists that the way we think is the way we live, sometimes with disastrous results:
∑ Pekka-Eric Auvinen, who nicknamed himself “Natural Selector,” murdered eight students at a high school in Finland in 2007. In a YouTube video made shortly before the atrocity he wore a T-shirt emblazoned with the words “HUMANITY IS OVERRATED” and pointed a pistol at the camera. In his manifesto he listed what he hated: human rights, equality, “religious fanatics,” and the “moral majority.” He also listed what he loved: existentialism, freedom, truth, evolutionary biology, and eugenics. He explained why he thought humans had no special value ("The Death of Humanity: And the Case for Life"):
o “Humans are just a species among other animals and world does not exist only for humans. Death and killing is not a tragedy, it happens in nature all the time between all species. Not all human lives are important or worth saving. Only superior (intelligent, self-aware, strong-minded) individuals should survive while inferior (stupid, retarded, weak-minded masses) should perish.”
It is likely that Auvinen also had psychological problems that could account for his murders, but many have these problems and yet treat others compassionately. Even though Auvinen might have always owned a handgun, his socially-derived beliefs put the bullets in its chambers and cocked the trigger:
o “Life is just a meaningless coincidence . . . result of long process of evolution and many several factors, causes and effects. However, life is also something that an individual wants and determines it to be. And I’m the dictator and god of my own life. And me, I have chosen my way. I am prepared to fight and die for my cause. I, as a natural selector, will eliminate all who I see unfit, disgraces of human race and failures of natural selection.”
Obviously, Darwinism had helped to load Auvinen's gun and cock its trigger. It provided a convenient rationale. Once he had rejected God, there was nothing left to stop him from pulling the trigger.
WHAT WE BELIEVE IS HOW WE ACT
Historian Richard Weikart argues that behavior will follow our thoughts:
∑ Eric Harris, the co-conspirator behind the Columbine High School massacre in 1999, confided to his journal just a few months before his rampage, “I just love Hobbes and Nietzche [sic].” On the day of the shooting he wore a T-shirt that proclaimed “Natural Selection,” and in his journal he stated that he loved natural selection and thought we should return to a state of nature where everyone had to fend for themselves. He wanted the weak and sick to die; his solution was to “kill him, put him out of his misery.” He also expressed utter contempt for humanity and dreamed of exterminating the entire human population. Although Harris had personal reasons for his hatred of humanity—he felt belittled and left out socially—he had also absorbed ideas prominent in our society today. It seems clear from his musings that Harris thought life was meaningless and death was natural, so why worry about it? On the same day that he wrote in his journal, “I say, ‘KILL MANKIND’ no one should survive,” he also remarked, “theres no such thing as True Good or True Evil, its all relative to the observer. its just all nature, chemistry, and math. deal with it.” Earlier he had written, “just because your mommy and daddy told you blood and violence is bad, you think its a law of nature? wrong, only science and math are true, everything, and I mean everything else is man made.” ("The Death of Humanity: And the Case for Life")
Others had been social outcasts, but they did not kill. However, our secular society had virtually handed Harris a collection of deadly weapons:
1. The denial of a “true good or true evil”
2. “Natural Selection”
3. Survival of the Fittest
4. Denial of Human Exceptionalism
5. “Only science and math are true, everything, and I mean everything else [including God] is man made.”
When we kill God, only death remains. We are both dignified and destroyed by our beliefs. If we think of humans as mere animals, we will inevitably treat them accordingly. If we believe that there is no “true good and no true evil,” our behavior will eventually catch up with our beliefs, and the results will be costly.
WITHOUT GOD, ANYTHING IS PERMISSIBLE
Just ask the late serial killer and cannibal, Jeffrey Dahmer, about this:
∑ “If a person doesn’t think there is a God to be accountable to, then what’s the point in trying to modify your behavior to keep it in acceptable ranges?” (Richard Weikart, "The Death of Humanity: And the Case for Life")
Well, I guess a professor of ethics could reason pragmatically:
∑ "Well Jeffrey, you would live a more fulfilling life if you would only give up killing and cannibalizing your victims."
But I could imagine Dahmer responding, "Trust me! I know what I find fulfilling better than you do!"
Instead, I think that Dahmer had a more rational view of morality than the vast number of our university professors. He clearly understood that if morality is just something we invent, then everything is permissible.
New York School of the Bible: http://www.nysb.nyc/
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