Creation

Evolution, Darwinism and the Culture of Death

In the nineteenth century however, geologist Charles Lyell, biologist Charles Darwin, and others, rejected these traditional teachings and proposed a molecules-to-man evolution origins hypothesis, which held that all life forms evolved from a common ancestor and that higher life-forms, such as humans, developed from lower life-forms.

Pseudo-Science

Although seemingly unconnected, this theory (also called Darwinism) provided the philosophical basis for today’s culture of death, which was further advanced by, among others, the 19th century German anatomist Ernst Haeckel. Haeckel used inaccurate drawings to deceive his scientific peers and the general public into thinking that the human embryo “recapitulated” his or her evolutionary history in the womb and was not fully human until having passed through the fish, amphibian, reptile and pre-human mammalian stages. This false, pseudo-scientific claim was accepted by most academics, even within the Catholic Church. By the beginning of the twentieth century, Haeckel’s claim paved the way for the acceptance of abortion in the early stages of pregnancy.

Eugenics & Abortion

Francis Galton, anthropologist, father of the modern eugenics movement, and influenced by Darwin’s natural selection (survival of the fittest) theory, proposed that there were superior and inferior races of people, and that “less evolved” classes of people should be discouraged from reproducing.

In the early 20th century, Galton’s ideas were embraced by the founders of the birth control, eugenics, and abortion movements, notably Margaret Sanger, who later founded Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the leading abortion provider in the United States. These evolutionary theories especially served as the rationale for abortion, as evolutionists, thanks to Haeckel, regarded the human embryo as a mere “clump of pre-human cells” that could be discarded when inconvenient. They also promoted the idea that widespread contraception and sterilization could help control population growth, especially among the “inferior” classes.

The Dangers of Evolution to Family and Culture

New adherents of Darwin’s philosophy did not limit its application to biology, however. As Pope St. Pius X warned in 1907, “evolution” became the “principal doctrine” of “the modernists,” for whom, the Pope noted, “everything is subject to change, and must change,” including dogma, the sacred liturgy, and Sacred Scripture.

Today this deadly philosophy also drives attacks against marriage and the family by those who assert that God did not directly institute marriage by the way that He created the first man, body and soul, and the first woman from the body of the first man. Rather, marriage “evolved” and will continue to evolve from a union of one man and one woman for life, into unions of various kinds, including homosexual unions. The acceptance of evolution has also led to the notion that God did not make man, male and female, but that sexuality “evolved” as a social construct that can be modified according to the will of the individual, with the aid of “science” and “medicine.”

Evolutionary errors now permeate every area of society, including philosophy, theology, the arts, natural science, education, politics, medicine, and law.

The Remedy: The Doctrine of Creation

The Carolina Family Coalition believes that only a restoration of the perennial Catholic doctrine on creation can provide a solid foundation for a culture of life and for strong families. To that end, we will strive to present and defend these teachings in the Carolinas through our programs and events.