Page 587 - Atlas of Creation Volume 3

Harun Yahya

of nature…" 31
One can see one of the clearest instances of the effect of Darwinism on the business world in
Spencer's American trip, which Richard Hofstadter describes in Social Darwinism in American Thought:

However imperfect the appreciation of the guests for the niceties of Spencer's thought, the banquet showed

how popular he had become in the United States. When Spencer was on the dock, waiting for the ship carry
him back to England, he seized the hands of Carnegie and Youmans. "Here," he cried the reporters, "are my
two best American friends." For Spencer it was a rare gesture of personal warmth; but more than this, it sym-
bolized the harmony of the new science [Social Darwinism] with the outlook of a business civilization. 32

One reason why some capitalists adopted Social Darwinism was that it absolved the wealthy from
any responsibility for the poor. In societies that preserve moral values, the rich are expected to show an

interest in helping the poor and needy, and Social Darwinism attempted to eliminate that virtue. In The
Golden Door: The United States from 1876 to 1918, science writer Isaac Asimov comments on this ruthless
aspect of Social Darwinism:

Spencer coined the phrase "survival of the fittest" and in 1884 argued, for instance, that people who were un-
employable or burdens on society should be allowed to die rather than be made objects of help and charity.

To do this, apparently, would weed out unfit individuals and strengthen the race. It was a horrible philoso-
phy that could be used to justify the worst impulses of human beings. 33

Just as those who implemented savage capitalism supported Darwinism, so Darwinists supported
them. For example, William Graham Sumner claimed that millionaires were "the fittest individuals in so-
ciety," then made illogical deductions that they therefore deserved special privileges and were "natural-

ly selected in the crucible of competition." 34 In an article about Social Darwinism in The Humanist peri-
odical, professor of philosophy Stephen Asma describes Spencer's support for capitalists:

Spencer coined the phrase survival of the fittest, and Darwin adopted the parlance in later editions of his
Origin of Species. ... According to Spencer and his American disciples—business entrepreneurs like John D.
Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie—social hierarchy reflects the unwavering, universal laws of nature.

Nature unfolds in such a way that the strong survive and the weak perish. Thus, the economic and social
structures that survive are "stronger" and better, and those structures that don't were obviously meant to
founder. 35

But as has already been emphasized, spiritual values and their preservation represent the principal
element in the progress of societies. In societies where the spirit of cooperation and solidarity is strong,
where people approach one another with compassion and respect, economic difficulties in circum-

stances can easily be overcome in a spirit of togetherness. But where human relations have disappeared,
and people lacking any compassion and understanding regard everyone else solely as rivals, many more
destructive effects began to arise, even if there is economic progress. Therefore, all individuals in a so-

ciety need to produce solutions to raise the quality of life and well-being, to bring about an environment
where people can enjoy not just economic but psychological security. Obviously, that can only happen
by living by religious moral values. As has been proved countless times, no movement or ideology in-
compatible with religious moral values can ever provide the well-being, peace and security for which
people long.

Savage Capitalism: The Joint Product of Social Darwinism and

Irreligiousness

From the 19th century onwards, Darwinist capitalists maintained that only the rich and powerful
had the right to live and that the poor, the weak, the crippled and sick were "useless burdens," estab-
lishing oppressive systems in a great many countries. In this climate of ruthless competition, it was seen

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