Page 631 - Atlas of Creation Volume 3

Harun Yahya

nings have been totally invalidated. Every new discovery, every scientific advance, has revealed the

fact that the universe is a flawless product of creation. The universe is not eternal and infinite, as ma-
terialists would have us believe, and did not come into being as the result of mechanical developments
and influences. God created the universe and everything within it, and when the time appointed by
our Lord comes, the universe will come to an end, as will all human beings and other entities.

On account of his materialist way of thinking, however, Haeckel rejected the Divine religions and the
humanity and compassion imparted by religious moral values. He praised the "artificial human selec-
tion" practiced by the Spartans (members of the Greek city-state founded in the 9th century BC that
rejected art, philosophy and literature and was built solely on military force) by defending eugenic
barbarity. During the time of the Spartans, under a special law, newly born babies were subjected to

careful examination, those who were weak, sickly or had physical defects were ruthlessly killed. Only
strong and perfectly healthy children were allowed to live. Haeckel defended this barbaric Spartan
practice that envisaged the murder of innocent babies. 4

This is how Haeckel responded to those who criticized him:

What good does it do to humanity to maintain artificially and rear the thousands of cripples, deaf-mutes, idiots,
etc., who are born every year with an hereditary burden of incurable disease? 5

No doubt, this logical framework that Haeckel proposed is inhuman. According to him, feelings of
love, compassion and affection should be directed solely towards those who can be of benefit. This
selfish attitude flourishes under the twin influences of materialism and Darwinism. People who live
by religious moral values, however, feel compassion for the needy and seek to protect them, even if
they have nothing at all to gain by doing so. That is true humanity. For example, it is revealed in the
Qur'an that true believers offer food to the poor, captives and the needy before themselves, and that
they do this solely to gain God's approval:

They give food, despite their love for it, to the poor and orphans and captives: "We feed you only
out of desire for the Face of God. We do not want any repayment from you or any thanks." (Surat
al-Insan, 8-9)

On the other hand, the monists, led by Haeckel, claimed that not only physical features but also char-
acter could stem from genetic defects, and maintained that everyone they considered flawed should

be eliminated.

Haeckel's books played an important role in the acceptance of the Nazi eugenics program. Wilhelm
Bölsche, Haeckel's student and biographer, directly transmitted Haeckel's Social Darwinist ideas to
Hitler. Furthermore, the Archiv für Rassen und Gesellschaftsbiologie ("Archive for Racial and Social
Biology," published from 1904 to 1944) became the main organ for disseminating the deceptions of eu-
genics and false Nazi science, and regularly carried extracts from Haeckel's dangerous works. 6

In the words of the historian Daniel Gasman:

Hitler's views on history, politics, religion, Christianity, nature, eugenics, science, art, and evolution,
however eclectic, and despite the plurality of their sources, coincide for the most part with those of
Haeckel and are more than occasionally expressed in very much the same language. 7

Haeckel defended suicide and euthanasia. According to him, a human being came into being solely as
the result of sexual relations between the mother and father. For that reason, when life became bur-
densome, that person could lose it:

If, then, the circumstances of life come to press too hard on the poor being who has thus developed, without any

Adnan Oktar 629