Page 578 - Atlas of Creation Volume 3

so represents the source of inspiration for the error expressed in the term "the survival of the fittest," used

by Herbert Spencer, and of Darwin's error of "evolution by natural selection."
As we have already emphasized, applying to human beings certain laws that apply to animals was a
great error made by a chain of people, beginning with Townsend and followed by Malthus, Spencer and

Darwin. They regarded humans as savage creatures that could be reined in only by radical measures and
kept under control by war, hunger and poverty. The truth is, though, that human beings are endowed with
reason and common sense. They act in accordance with logic and their conscience, not according to in-
stincts, as animals do.

Malthus's Claims Not Based on Scientific Data

Malthus's theory received support from various circles at the time, and also constituted the foundation

of a number of perverted ideologies and movements in the following century. Yet it rests on no scientific
foundations and is riddled with inconsistencies. For example:
1) At the time Malthus wrote, there were no data regarding population increases at his disposal. The
first national census in Great Britain was carried out in 1801, three years after Malthus wrote his Essay. In

any case, for Malthus to calculate the rate of population growth, he would have needed statistics for years
previous to 1801. He therefore had no reliable statistics on which to base a figure for that growth, and his
claims were based entirely on presupposition.
2) Nor did Malthus possess any data with which to calculate the growth of food resources. At the time,

there was no way of calculating how much land was under cultivation, not how many crops it produced.
Again, he engaged in mere conjecture.
3) In any case, the law that Malthus proposed was contradictory in itself. He suggested that popula-
tions increased geometrically. In that case, animals and plant populations also increased geometrically, and

these two form the basis of human life. In practice, however, animals, plants and human beings do not mul-
tiply geometrically: Their rates of increase vary according to prevailing circumstances. The entire ecosys-
tem, humans included, exists within a most balanced equilibrium. The self-evident order in nature is a long
way from "Eat or be eaten," the so-called struggle for survival proposed by Malthus and Darwin.

In short, Malthus's erroneous and illogical claims rest on no scientific foundations whatsoever. Yet
Darwin constructed his theory of evolution on Malthus's conjectures.

Darwin the Malthusian

In his autobiography, Darwin wrote:

In October 1838, that is fifteen months after I had begun my systematic enquiry, I
happened to read for amusement Malthus on Population, and being well prepared
to appreciate the struggle for existence that everywhere goes on from long-contin-

ued observation of the habits of animals and plants, it at once struck me that
under these circumstances, favourable variations would tend to be pre-
served and unfavourable ones to be destroyed. The result of this would be

the formation of new species. Here, then, Ihad at last got a theory by which
to work... 12

The concepts of evolution by natural selection and the struggle for
survival took shape in Darwin's mind after reading Malthus. In The
Origin of Species Darwin admitted that he had fully accepted
Malthus's claims:

God commands people to protect the needy,
and to be affectionate and compassionate.
The spread of the moral values He com-
manded will resolve a great many problems.