My Apologies...I Was Wrong –Ray Comfort<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

I am often accused by Atheists of refusing to admit when I am in error, but I was certainly was wrong this time. Last week I said that Charles Darwin wasn't a racist, and that even if he was, his personal morality was irrelevant when it came to the theory of evolution. But after studying him closely, I have changed my mind. Let's look at his own words:"At some future period, not very distant as measured by centuries, the civilized races of man will almost certainly exterminate and replace throughout the world the savage races. At the same time the anthropomorphous apes, as Professor Schaaffhausen has remarked, will no doubt be exterminated. The break will then be rendered wider, for it will intervene between man in a more civilized state, as we may hope, than the Caucasian, and some ape as low as a baboon, instead of as at present between the negro or Australian and the gorilla." While the above quote seems as nebulous as one of the prophesies of Nostradamus, close study reveals <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Darwin's point. He is predicting that civilized races would replace savage races. The gap between savages and the civilized races would become wider, like the gap he saw between the white races and the ape. That means that there would no longer be a closeness, such as the one he saw between the negro and the gorilla. He was saying that Blacks were closer to gorillas than the whites were. Who could deny that this is a blatantly racist statement, particularly when contemporary society says that just saying or even putting the "n" word in print, is racism? Yet modern admirers of Darwin try and justify his racism by saying that he loved the Negro, and that he spoke kindly of their intelligence. He wrote during his voyage on the Beagle, "I never saw anything more intelligent than the Negros, especially the Negro or Mulatto children." After reading Life with a Black Regiment, Darwin wrote to the author to thank him "heartily for the very great pleasure" which it gave him: "I always thought well of the Negroes, from the little which I have seen of them; and I have been delighted to have my vague impressions confirmed, and their character and mental powers so ably discussed." He despised proponents of slavery, referring to them as "the polished savages in England," while saying of a black lieutenant that he'd never met anywhere "a more civil and obliging man." Charles Darwin believed that the black race was closer to the gorilla than the white race, but he thought that they were friendly, well-behaved, and intelligent. His attitude was similar to that of a man who likes well-trained dogs. He thinks that they are friendly, well-behaved, and some are extremely intelligent. His racism was blatant, indefensible, and was shaped by his belief in evolution. Notes:Charles Darwin, Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex, Vol. 1 (London: John Murray, 1871), p. 521.Charles Darwin, Charles Darwin's Beagle Diary (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1988), p. 71, Jan. 20, 1832.Charles Darwin, The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin (London: John Murray, 1887), p. 188.Beagle Diary, p. 122, March 12, 1832.Charles Darwin, Voyages of the Adventure and Beagle, Vol. III (London: Henry Colburn, 1839), p. 88.This Was Predictable:"captain howdy said... Ray lectures us--His racism was blatant, indefensible, and was shaped by his belief in evolution. Here's what your own 'holy' book says about slavery:Leviticus 25:44-46 (New International Version): 44 Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. 45 You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property. 46 You can will them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly.Exodus 21:20-21 (New International Version): 20 If a man beats his male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies as a direct result, he must be punished, 21 but he is not to be punished if the slave gets up after a day or two, since the slave is his property.You say racism is indefensible. Is slavery indefensible too? If not, why not? If it is, why do you concentrate on Darwin's alleged racism but mysteriously fall silent about your own religion's support and outright endorsement of the filthy practice of slavery? You're a complete hypocrite, Ray."My reply: "Captain...I find it interesting that you didn't try and justify Darwin's racism--because you can't. Instead, you resort to name-calling, and pointing at another issue--slavery. The problem is, you look at the issue through the colored glasses of cruel American slavery. You think of whips and chains, because our history shapes the word that way for you. In the Bible, the word "slave" and the word "servant" are interchangable. Replace the word "slave" with the word "servant" and it will bring things into perspective for you. By the way; I am fully aware that sinful men justified American slavery from these and other Bible verses. All that does, is confirm that the human heart truly is wicked (including mine). Thanks for your thoughts."

History is Quickly Forgotten

Ray, I hope that you've censured Kirk for the lies that he was telling in the video advertising this giveaway. You know, the ones about not being able to pray or read a bible in school, etc. Lying for Jesus is still lying." KiwiInOzThere was a time in the United Sates when public schools opened in prayer every day. These were the words kids recited along with the Pledge of Allegiance: "Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and we beg Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers and our Country." I believe that the liberty to pray and read the Bible in schools was given by God as an unalienable right: "... all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights [a right that is 'not to be taken away'], that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Declaration of Independence, July 4th, 1776. However, after one atheist complained that it was unconstitutional for her son to pray in school, in 1963 the Supreme Court ruled eight to one in favor of abolishing school prayer and Bible reading in the public schools. They did this by creating something called "a wall of separation between church and state" (a phrase not found in the Constitution). However, up until that time the only "wall" was the wall that was put there by the framers of the Bill of Rights (ten amendments to the Constitution) to keep the Government from stripping America of its God-given liberties: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances" First Amendment, U.S. Constitution (italics added).Tragically, in 1995, Madalyn Murray O'Hair, the atheist who had prayer banned in schools was murdered by another atheist. Police found her body in 2001. It had been cut up with a saw. In 1980, her son was baptized as a Christian and went on to become a Baptist preacher.