Page 87 - The Intellectual Struggle Against Darwinism

HARUN YAHYA 85

the first half of the 20 th century—called for "improving" a race by
means of the removal of the sick and handicapped and increasing
the numbers of strong, healthy individuals. According to the the-
ory of eugenics' perverted teachings, in the same way that animal

breeds could be improved by mating superior specimens, so
could the human race. As one might expect, it was Darwinists
who came up with the concept. Charles Darwin's nephew, Francis
Galton, and his son Leonard Darwin were the leaders of the eu-
genics movement in Britain. The idea was clearly a natural conse-
quence of Darwinism, as was especially emphasized in publica-
tions supporting the concept, which said, "Eugenics is mankind's
directing its own evolution." The first person to adopt and spread
eugenics in Germany was the evolutionist and biologist Ernst
Haeckel, a close friend and supporter of Darwin. He recommend-
ed the immediate killing of handicapped newborn babies, sug-
gesting that this would accelerate society's "evolution." He went
even further in his cruel attitude, maintaining that lepers, cancer
sufferers and the mentally handicapped should also be killed, lest
these people pose a burden on society and slow down its "evolu-
tion."
Haeckel died in 1919, but the Nazis inherited his ideas.
Shortly after coming to power, Hitler initiated an official policy of

eugenics, which he summarized in these words:
In the popular state, the education of the mind and the body
will play an important role, but human selection is just as im-
portant… The state has the responsibility of declaring as unfit
for reproductive purposes anyone who is obviously ill or ge-
netically unsound ... and must carry through with this respon-
sibility ruthlessly, without respect to understanding or lack of
understanding on the part of anyone … Stopping reproduction

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