A Killer Question Asked At Oxford.

After alighting from the train at Oxford Station and exiting onto the street outside, had someone approached to ask me whether I arrived onboard an interstellar spaceship, I would have considered this to be quite a valid question. Because indeed, from the moment of arrival, I sensed this historic, academic-centred city was on a different planet from the one I lived on. For the first time in my life, I was about to enter the Sutro Room, located upstairs in the heart of Trinity College, one of many institutions of the University of Oxford.

This is a result of an advert posted on Facebook by the Oxford Forum for an hour-long debate between a Christian and an Atheist on the question of whether morality without religion is bankrupt. The Christian representative taking part was Professor Keith Ward, someone who looks to be around my age or older. Ward would be discussing his views with the Atheist Alexander O'Connor, a minor celebrity under the username of Cosmic Skeptic, whose 125 YouTube videos have attracted 25,299,347 views by February 7th, 2020, along with 308,000 subscribers, after just seven years of self-broadcasting on the Internet.

O'Connor's typical YouTube video prompt.

After giving a positive response to the advert, I felt a surge of excitement over the prospect of seeing O'Connor in the flesh, after watching so many of his videos. I suppose this is a hint of celebrity-worship, despite that not ever appearing on television (as far as I'm aware) or on film, I rate him as a minor celebrity. But to be known by almost 25,300,000 people around the world is indeed something. But furthermore, what I really wanted was to speak to him personally, to testify to him that this Jesus of Nazareth is the risen Christ.

I arrived at Oxford early, purposely to allow for any train delay hampering the journey. Therefore, about forty minutes before the debate was due to begin, I approached the superintendent's office just inside the college gate for confirmation of the meeting. After some searching, his computer revealed that there is a meeting at the Sutro Room right at this moment. Commencing at 3.00pm and due to finish at 6.00pm, the superintendent was rather nonplussed. He had the keys to the venue right there with him and therefore cannot be anyone present in that chamber. Therefore, under his suggestion, I took a stroll down Broad Street and looked around the magnificent public library which was nearby.

Perhaps I was asking too much. I had no idea what this Sutro Room looked like. I imagined it to be a theatre-like auditorium seating hundreds of people. I imagined the debate being watched by all of us from a distance before the two debaters vanish backstage, their celebrity-status snobbery keeping them from talking to us as "ordinary" individuals. 

Trinity College, where our beloved Englishman, Etonian and ardent Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg resided as a student, was about to become familiar. As I returned to the entrance from the library, some students were lingering just inside. The superintendent, remembering me, suggested to one of the students to lead me to the venue. We chatted happily until we arrived at the far side of the building from the entrance and led me through a door and up a flight of stairs. I was surprised by the small size of the panelled room, no bigger than a school classroom. About 25 chairs were already arranged, theatre-style, and my emotions were overwhelmed in being in the very heart of Oxford University yet at the same time, also with the small size of the room, giving a far closer intimacy with the debaters.

I was the first guest to arrive, about fifteen minutes before the start. Only two or three other people were already there, setting everything up, including O'Connor himself and one who will be monitoring the debate. I had the privilege to introduce myself and expressed my commitment to Christ.

By seeing him in the flesh, I was taken back by his youthful good looks and his slim, athletic build for a man in his early twenties, as well as his high intelligence, knowledge and intellectual abilities. But what surprised me most was his height. He was taller than me by several centimetres, something not so noticeable in his videos. I also found him to be very likeable.

The room was filled almost entirely with male students, with a few females. The small room was packed with, I would estimate, to be between fifty to sixty people, with some spilling out through the open door. Undergrads, postgrads, all casually dressed, including the two debaters. It was almost difficult to believe that if 41.1% of Trinity College students come from state schools (grammar schools, I assume) then the remaining 58.9% are from public schools such as Eton, Harrow and Winchester. Yet as I looked around the crowd, most of them sitting and standing behind me, it was impossible to tell whether this audience is representative of the overall statistic.

Prof Keith Ward opened the debate. His reasoning that morality without religion is bankrupt. He then went on about Theism is the setting for moral values such as love and compassion and knowledge of the love of such a Being would stimulate love and respect for others. He then quoted Emmanuel Kant, who said that morality was impossible without belief in God. He also discussed that opponents of gays and their lifestyles were not necessarily religious. Many secularists also oppose homosexuality. Prof Ward then goes on to say that humanism is anti-religious, and atheism lacks the resource to make morality workable.

The debate, with Keith Ward, left, and Alex O'Connor, right.

O'Connor's side of the argument is in question form: Is morality without religion bankrupt? His answer is No, morality can still exist and work well without the need for religion (as advocated by the likes of both Richard Dawkins and the late Christopher Hitchens). He then takes aim for the Bible being insulting to modern morality, especially in the Old Testament. If there is a God, then he must be looking in horror at deeds done under religion. The religious attitude towards gays is one striking example, the put-down of such people by the religious, making them feel rejected, isolated, subject to violence and suicidal. O'Connor also insists that it's quite possible to believe in Evolution and practice religion too, although how the two can exist harmoniously side-by-side, he even admits, remains a mystery. In all, if God is the source of all good, then good must also exist outside of God. To which Prof Keith Ward explained that God is eternal, and if so, good is also eternal.

As the debate progressed, I feel like bursting! My heartbeat felt rapid as emotions rose. Throughout the entire debate not once was the name of Jesus Christ mentioned. I wanted to shout about the crucifixion, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ and that no man can be justified by God through his own morality, but I also knew that if I had disturbed the gentle flow of the debate, there would be no uproar as in Paul the apostle's time. Oh no, of course not! This is not the 1st Century Middle East. This is modern England, and furthermore, Oxford, the home of English gentry. Had I caused a disturbance, one or two students would be asked by the coordinator to quietly escort me out. 

It was after the conference was over, and the chance to partake in the ten-minute question time was denied from me by the monitor. It was after declaring the meeting closed that I had that moment alone with Alex O'Connor, and after posing for photos, I then proceeded what was in my mind:

Alex, I said, It's a real privilege to talk to you like this. I have watched many of your videos and I'm impressed. I'm aware that you believe in Evolution, and therefore, I'm aware that if death preceded Adam and Eve, if they ever existed at all, then Jesus could never have atoned for us and my faith would be in vain, for the crucifixion was precisely for Adam's fall. Then again, I'm aware you are studying all this.

Well then -

Do you believe that Charles Darwin's cousin, Francis Galton, by using Darwin's theory, used the theory of Natural Selection to coin up eugenics, and this was taken by the German Nazis to use for the Holocaust, the slaying of six million Jews? In other words, by denying all religion, Hitler was amoral?

It was difficult to hear O'Connor's answer due to the surrounding babble, but I did hear of his denial that the holocaust had anything to do with Hitler's sense of morality. Rather, he might have hinted at having a religious conviction. I then shook his hand and departed, to head back to the station. Indeed, I was by no means the first to leave, much of the room was already empty by the time I left.

Any historian would be aware that Adolf Hitler was born a Roman Catholic and his mother was a practising catholic. But from adolescence onwards, he not only renounced his religion but hated it. Later, when he came into power, Adolf Hitler began to assemble heads of the Nazi Party into his Cabinet. These included Dr Josef Mengele - Darwin's "Angel of Death", Martin Bormann, Heinrich Himmler - Darwinist and mass murderer, Dr Joseph Goebbles who was the Darwinist father of the Holocaust, Hermann Goring, Reinhard Heydrich - a fervent anti-Christian Holocaust mastermind, Dr Alfred Rosenberg - "the scribe of the new gospel" of Darwinism, and Julius Streicher - an anti-Catholic Darwinist and Hitler's mentor.*

These men were all former Roman Catholics who renounced their religious faith mainly during their university years. There all agreed as one man, that Natural Selection needs a helping hand on the social side, just as Charles Darwin's book is properly titled:

On the Origin Of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life (emphasis mine).

Going by his title, Darwin hinted at one race of humans being in favour over other races. It was his cousin, Francis Galton, who seized the opportunity to apply this to eugenics, or social evolution, in the name of Science. It wasn't long before the German Nazis had gotten round to using Galton's thesis in the Holocaust to eradicate all "weaker, inferior Jewish and Slavonic races, along with cretins, homosexuals and the physically deformed" in order for the "strong, superior German Ayran race" to breed and thrive. This ethic was diametrically opposed to Christianity and both Galton and the Nazis knew it. Darwin himself also knew that his theories strongly opposes the Christian faith, hence a delay in the publication of his book for a number of years.

Alex O'Connor aka CosmicSkeptic is a likeable student of theology at the University of Oxford. He has shown great intelligence and knowledgeable intellect for a man of his age. But I'm sad to say that he is catastrophically wrong in insisting that morality isn't bankrupt without religion, especially the Christian faith. History has proved otherwise.

So far, his videos have more than 25 million views and have attracted 308,000 subscribers! That's one size of an audience which calls for a blog such as this. He is also a public speaker, delivering talks to audiences filling large lecture rooms alongside any other established professor or lecturer.

How I long to spend some private time with Alex O'Connor, especially over coffee at a Starbucks or Costa Coffee. To tell him that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not counting people's sins against them (2 Corinthians 5:19.) the wonderful truth of Imputed Righteousness for every believer, that is, for God the Father to see you in the same way as he sees his Son. A biblical doctrine which the Catholic Church has failed to teach for sixteen long centuries and a doctrine anathematised at the Council of Trent between 1545 and 1563. Thus salvation by works of Pennance had replaced salvation by grace through faith alone and portrays a false, truculent God who looks at every sin committed instead of each believer being a citizen of Heaven.

No wonder O'Connor hates God, just as I once hated him myself when I was a teenage Catholic. As did Hitler and all his motley Nazi crew. But now, I have a heart for the Catholic Church, as I have a heart for O'Connor and his ilk. Longing for all to be reconciled to God through faith in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

If Alex O'Connor was to agree for me to meet with him at Oxford, I'll be more than happy to board a train to arrive at a pre-arranged venue. It would be a privilege.

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*Jerry Bergman, Hitler and the Nazi Darwinian Worldview, 2012, Joshua Press.

Our Unchangeable English God

We are into late March, Easter is just a week away and Spring Equinox is already behind us. That is, here in the Northern Hemisphere, the days are already longer than the nights, and therefore by this time we should be enjoying milder, if not warmer weather. Yet it has so far been a very cold month, compared with March last year, when temperatures hit a high of eighteen degrees Celsius. This year temperatures struggle to get past four degrees, way below average for this time of the year. A chilly blast from the North-East keeps the air bitingly cold, day in, day out while much of the country is under a layer of snow, disrupting communications and other public services as we all gasp in surprise at the unseasonal weather. After all, 2012 had an extremely wet summer which ruined many crops across the UK, pushing up the price for the weekly groceries. In a domino-effect, a large number of High Street retail businesses went into administration as consumers tighten their budget belts. The resulting fall in our Economy transferred our once bustling High Streets into near ghost towns, with a large number of outlets boarded up.

Then on top of this, the Media, both on television and in our newspapers, warn us that the Apocalypse is just around the corner for the UK, as the persistent cold weather has caused households right across the land to turn up their heating. Our gas supplies are running out, and our reliance on foreign imports are pushing up fuel prices, where those with lower incomes will be hit the hardest. This is the result of poor foresight by previous Governments in the last four or five decades to ensure that we have adequate storage to meet a long, harsh winter. Gas and even electricity rationing looks to be on the cards, unlike the rest of Europe and the United States where their politicians had far better foresight, and at present, a more adequate storage facilities.

The news of the threat of shortages in fuel storage came less than a week after England was thrashed by Wales in the final of the Six Nations Rugby Tournament. (For the record, the six nations were England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, France and Italy.) As for Football (i.e. Soccer) England had only won the World Cup once, in 1966, and since then the team had never lifted the trophy since, while Brazil had lifted it five times in the tournament's history while the much-maligned Italians lifted it four times. In the early 1980s a game between an English side (Liverpool) and an Italian team (Juventus) was aborted after a crowd of English fans ran amok and caused violence, street battles and wreckage of property in the host country, Belgium, if I recall. So severe was the disruption that the Prime Minister at the time, Margaret Thatcher, ordered troops to be flown in to repatriate the troublemakers. Since then, or at least, up to recently, English football fans carried a bad reputation wherever an international match was staged. This goes to show how high patriotic emotions international sport can generate - exuberance and joy - or anger, frustration and tears. Sport plays a very big role in English life, a chance to show the world how patriotic and loyal to our country we can be. Despite our inability to win, at least we can take comfort that the organising of the London Olympics and Paralympics in 2012 were a flying success, despite predictions of a disaster levelled by the critics.

All this detailed above has got me thinking about our nation being "God's Country." Am I being silly or even prejudiced here? Rather, I know at least three Christians of my generation who heartily believe that England has a special place in God's heart, with one of them insisted that the British Empire's invasion into foreign soil was ordained and overseen by the Almighty. Two of these guys used to attend our church in Ascot, while the third attended a nearby parish church before moving to the West Country.

This is nothing new. The idea that England is God's country goes back generations. It is even believed that World War II was won by the Allies against Hitler's Nazi Party, which was the result of a day of national prayer undertaken by the entire nation, when it was thought that Hitler's armies was close to all-out victory, and Britain was about to be taken over by the Nazis.

But the idea of England being God's country goes back at least to the beginning of the nineteenth Century. One of England's most popular hymns is Jerusalem, originating from a poem written by William Blake, and printed in 1808. Then in 1916, during the Great War, Sir Hubert Parry put the poem to music, and created one of the nation's most famous hymns, still sung today at Women's Institutions, some sport events - particular Rugby League, the wedding of Prince William to Catherine in 2011, and other special occasions. These are the lyrics of the first verse:

And did those feet of ancient times
Walk upon England's mountains green?
And was the Holy Lamb of God,
On England's pleasant pastures seen?

It seems ironic to read that Blake was not impressed with the Church of England, or any other organised religion during his lifetime, due to their repressive attitude towards sexual desires and other pleasures and in support of the Industrial Revolution. Rather, there is a speculation that Blake was a follower of Emanuel Swedenborg, an academic who had weird ideas that the Last Judgement towards all churches had already occurred in 1757, as a result of occult visions which he experienced, with the result that Swedenborg's followers founded the New Church, an offshoot from the Lutherian churches.

William Blake

The rather crazy idea that the young Jesus Christ arrived at Glastonbury with Joseph of Arimathea seems very appealing, even though they were both Jews. Certainly, to have Almighty God walk along England's green mountains and pleasant pastures makes this country unique and close enough to God's heart to support the Empire and to look down on foreigners with a degree of disdain.  However, not only that there is not a shred of evidence that Jesus had ever set foot on these isles, but the development of Darwinism brought in ideas that the English were racially superior to those of other nations, particularly over non-whites.

And such of my experience as a British-born Italian who lived in England all my life. As an adolescent in the 1960s I was called "Spaghetti Face" many times by my fellowmen, along with seeing National Front offensive messages addressed to blacks and Asians to "go home" along with other hostile responses. As for the three Christians who were also patriotic, throughout the early to mid nineties, two were in the church I still attend at Ascot, and I wondered just how often Jesus himself must have shook his head sadly as he watched divisions arise in his church. No matter how hard they tried to hide their feelings towards this Italian, I could instinctly feel the division. The atmosphere between us was tense. I was even teased, and I had this awful dread whenever England played Italy at any international friendly or qualifier. I knew full well that if England had won, then it would have been much wiser to stay at home on the following Sunday than to face a group of gloating smirks.

Around 1994 or 1995 these two ran a midweek youth club with the blessing of the church elders. When the club broke for the summer, a series of slides were shown to the whole congregation. One set of slides showed the youth group outside on a field, playing a version of It's A Knockout, which was an obstacle race where a number of tasks had to be completed to get to the finishing line. Nearby was a giant Union Jack flag, erected on a frame to make it clearly obvious. I was shocked, and I believe, so were the rest of the congregation. When these two appealed for support for the start of the Autumn term, none were offered. Eventually the club was dissolved and both left Ascot for other churches not long afterwards. If only these two had set out to glorify God instead of England! They might have had a much more positive outcome.

The idea that our God is the God of England is not only a lie, but it brought hostility even among church members, if my experience had anything to go by. With it came arrogance and a sense of national superiority. To add to this, our salvation cannot be certain if our God is the God of England.

Yet the Bible informs us that our God is the God of Israel. This is very assuring. It means that God never changes and if he makes a covenant of grace, it is set to stand for eternity. God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit made a covenant within the Godhead itself concerning man's salvation, according to John 17. He also made a covenant of grace with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that their descendants will always be God's people. God has provided witnesses to this covenant with Israel. First, a clue can be found in the name Israel itself. The proper name of this country is Erech Yisrael. The name Erech means "Land of." But Yisrael is actually an acronym of initials of three couples who were literally the founders of the nation of Israel. By unscrambling the code, we get this:

Yacob
Isaac
Sarah
Rebekah
Abraham
Elohim
Leah

Elohim is the name of God himself, and is here seen in the midst of his people, rather than at the front or back. The other names are of men and women, with poor Leah, the least loved by her husband Yacob (renamed Israel) therefore becomes part of the name of God himself. Even in the name itself, God shows his special grace for the weak and the unloved, as well as having seven letters - seven being the number for God. Maybe it is interesting to add that the letters EL making the last two letters of the name Yisrael may indicate that God is the founder and finisher of the nation, just as Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith. Just a hunch.

All six of these people were buried together in the Cave of Machpelah which Abraham bought with the field it was at from the Hittites soon after Sarah's death, according to the record of Genesis. By 6 BC, Herod the Great completed a fortress surrounding the entrance of the cave, and it stands intact to this day.

The fortress seem to me to be a kind of sentinel, as if reminding the rest of the world that this land on which it stands belongs to the Jews, the direct descendants of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and Yacob (renamed Israel) and Leah. It had survived the destruction of the nation and its capital, Jerusalem, when the Romans launched an attack under General Titus in AD70. After the Temple was razed to the ground, the fortress at Hebron remains standing to this day, even if that portion of the world remains troubled by war and unrest for decades, even centuries. Our God is the God of Israel and he will always be. He is forever unchangeable.

If God was the God of Israel, then became the God of Rome, then of England because both Israel and Rome were unfaithful, then what is stopping the Lord from withdrawing our salvation whenever we become unfaithful or not live up to his requirements? Furthermore, there has been a wide departure of the nation as a whole from faith in God. Our academics, who the nation holds in high regard and reverential respect almost to the point of worship, keep on denying the existence and the power of God by constantly pushing Darwinism. The truth of the Bible, particularly Genesis, is now become something of a laughing stock and a fading book of myths. England now trust in science and in themselves and God is consigned to empty, archaic Gothic church buildings, lost in bygone days of medieval history.

No wonder we in the UK are facing adverse weather, the threat of fuel shortage, skyrocketing prices and a failing economy. Maybe, just maybe, if the English really believe that they are God's people and his particular nation, then this advice would be beneficial to the whole of the UK, not just England:

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven,and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14.

National prayer of repentance could well lead to the solution to major problems our Government is unable to solve. And this includes repentance from national and ethical superiority.  

The Snake Is Still Talking...

Here I wish to conclude this series of Creation versus Evolution, which incidentally was the result of a comment posted for the first of the series of blogs, Our Eternal Home, published February 5th, 2012. In that article, I made a suggestion that the age of the Dinosaurs shared the same time frame as Adam's early descendants. This opinion brought a comment from a scientist who firmly believed in Evolution, making total nonsense of my ideas.

What have been the overall result in believing this theory? Here I wish to highlight the consequences in believing Darwin's survival of the fittest, and to show, if I can, that Darwinism had not brought in the Utopian society wished for by the likes of Richard Dawkins, who believe that religion had always been detrimental to society.

And sure enough. Dawkins does have a point. Religion has been the cause of the rivers of blood which had flowed throughout history, and it is still flowing now, particularly in the Middle East. And the Bible itself records a history of religious oppression. The stoning of Stephen recorded in Acts chapter 7 is one good example.

But Darwinism is not just about Natural Selection. The theory embraces the idea that we, mankind, are constantly working upward in achieving a higher status, with the end means of becoming gods. Therefore we can conclude that the true teaching of Evolution is that of a very slow progress from a single, amoeba-like cell floating in the primeval ocean right up to what we are today, then into the future as divine beings. Maybe one day, as in the motion picture, 2001 A Space Odyssey, we might evolve out of our bodies to exist as pure energy, with an omnipresent feel and with technology impossible to fathom at present!

However, there are some very serious problems with the evolutionary theory. First of all, there is not enough time in the entire age of the Universe for the cell to have evolved, as we have seen in the last two blogs. A single cell is a vastly complex unit. The sheer impossibility for it to evolve has even led to a fascinating idea of panspermia. This simply mean that living cells from space had hitched a ride on a meteorite and splashed into our primeval oceans from where Darwinian Evolution began to get underway. Of course many evolutionists have dismissed all this as pseudoscience, yet such a theory has not been written off as nonsense.

Most academics, like the one who commented earlier, ridicule the idea of a talking snake. Nobody had ever seen a snake talk, for that matter, any animal. Sure enough, parrots may talk, but only repeating what they had been taught without understanding what those sounds mean. But there is absolutely no record within zoology of any beast talking and knowing what these sounds mean. Little wonder the Bible is looked upon as a book of fantasy stories. After all, Grimm's Fairy Tales are full of talking animals, but every reader knows what they are - fiction. But if we, as Christians, take the Bible as the inerrant Word of God and therefore all the events written therein as historical, then the narrative of a talking snake must be also historical. Hence, Christians who accept the Bible as historical are now held as ridicule by not only the academics but by society in general.

The truth is that the snake is still talking to this day - and we are listening! Let us go the the narration and read what it says:

Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God has made. And he said to the woman, Yea, hath God said, you shall not eat of every tree in the garden?
And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden:
But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God had said, Ye shall not eat of it, nor touch it, lest ye die.
And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
For God doeth know that in the day that ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
Genesis 3:1-5 (AV).

After being warned by God not to eat of the fruit of a certain tree, the snake then asks Eve if it was true that God warned her about the fruit of this particular tree. Eve's answer is quite interesting. She admitted that this was true, but she also added the words, "neither shall ye touch it" in her response. God did not say that, it was added by Eve herself with the belief that there was something in the fruit itself. Then the serpent, or snake, denied the truth of what God has originally told them and accused the Almighty of being a jealous sycophant who wasn't keen to see the couple rise in status. This accusation is often known as the Edenic Lie.

Ye shall be as gods! And this has been the fierce battle between God and the snake within every human heart ever since. The lust for power, fame, prestige, riches and mastery over others, are all what are offered by the snake to this day. And on towards godhood. And we are listening. And furthermore, we by nature have put out our hands to grab what he offers.

Darwinism is one of the snake's lies on how we got here. It is a slow progress from a cell to becoming gods ourselves, and we are supposed to be getting there. There is a strong similarity between western thinking on organic evolution and eastern religions. In the Far East, Karma is taught, both in Hindu and in Buddhism. The two differ only in that in Buddhism, bad Karma is restricted to a human reincarnation of a person to a lower status in life. In Hinduism, bad Karma means being reincarnated as an animal. In both cases, good Karma is coming back as someone with a greater social status, in a long chain of reincarnations when someone eventually becomes a god. The sheer impossibility is that any sins committed in this life would lead to bad Karma in the next. Reaching godhood is impossible.

Darwinism involve Natural Selection, with weaker species becoming extinct to allow for the stronger to survive. Let us give an example. Let's imagine two groups of mice, intermingling with each other. One group consist of mice with dark fur, the other with white fur. They are prey to carnivorous birds such as the eagle or the owl. If the environment is dark and shady, it will most likely result in the birds spotting the light coloured mice more easily, with the result of the lighter group becoming extinct, while the darker group continuing to survive and multiply. It's the other way round if the two groups are in a bright environment, where the darker mice would then be easily spotted by the predators, allowing the white mice a greater chance to survive and multiply. This, as Darwin himself called this analogy Natural Selection, and this does not necessarily mean that the two groups of mice fought against each other in vying for space at the given environment. But a 19th Century philosopher, Herbert Spencer, who studied Darwin's work, in 1864 coined the phrase Survival of the Fittest which indicated that the two groups of mice fought each other for the space, pushing out the weaker group to full exposure to the predators.

It was Spencer's "Survival of the Fittest" which made evolution enter a new dimension: Social Darwinism. This was a development, using organic evolution to justify social behavior, mainly racism, slavery, social class and imperialism. Imperialism had always been a feature in ancient history. Empires such as the Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Greek and Roman - all mentioned in the Bible and all six having had dominance over Israel. But it was Social Darwinism which provided justification for more recent imperialism.

While this blog is written, Jeremy Paxman is presenting a documentary series about the British Empire on the BBC. Unlike former presenters on this subject, Paxman gives a more realistic view of British imperialists invading other countries, particularly India, and subjugated the indigenous population to servitude, lower social class and racism, along with the expectation to be looked on as god-like by the indigenous and treated as lords. All of these were based on the notion that the British were a superior race due to the result of a greater advance in Organic Evolution which inevitably led to the imperial philosophy of Social Darwinism.

Racism at football grounds was most certainly the result of Social Darwinism, the insult of racist fans, for example, throwing a banana on to the pitch in the direction of a black player with a reminder that such a person, despite his excellent footballing skills, was still closer to the Primate than the white offender at the stands - was of Darwinian origin, although I have wondered whether the offender was bright enough to realise this. Nowadays, such racism is a criminal offence here in the UK, and quite rightly so.

But the worst case of racism and national superiority were the German Nazis over the Jews. During the Second World War, up to six million Jews were needlessly slaughtered under the Nazi leader, Adolf Hitler. The sole reason is definitely Darwinian in nature. When I visited the Yad Vashem and Holocaust Museum in Israel back in 1993, I came across this introductory poster at the start of the visit:

The singular tragedy of the Holocaust, in which some six million Jews were ruthlessly annihilated by Nazi Germany and its collaborators, is a pivotal chapter in human history....Guided by racial principles, Nazi ideology ordained that the Germans belonged to a superior race that was destined to rule the world. The Nazi vision of a new racial order called for the overthrow of democracy and humanism. Rooted in traditional and political Jew hatred, Nazi racial antisemitism defined the Jew as Germany's foremost enemy....In the Holocaust, man's most cherished beliefs about himself and the nature of civilisation were violently defiled. The events of the Holocaust are compelling and confronting them, every thinking person feels the weight of their imprint.

A candle burns inside the Yad Vashem Memorial, Israel

Here we have the result of Darwinism - the slaughter of millions of Jews due to national and racial superiority. This is not done so much out of Darwin's Natural Selection as Spencer's "Survival of the Fittest" and its immediate consequence - Social Darwinism.

The next image I have posted to give the real, shocking truths of Darwinism. It shows indeed that the snake is still talking and on this occasion has found a very keen ear in the head of the Nazis.

The fruit of Darwinism - Victims of the Holocaust

But what about today? Recently I have come across an article in the Daily Mail newspaper, the timing of such writing could not have been better. It was written by columnist Sonia Poulton, and was published 6th March, 2012. On the subject of the Welfare Reform Bill, she wrote that our present Government is into "Brutal Acts of Savagery". The article features on how the most vulnerable in society - the disabled or sick person will, under the reform, be made to work unpaid in factories and private businesses if they want to keep on receiving State benefit. These include patients with Alzheimer's Disease and Multiple Sclerosis. Meanwhile, company bosses and business executives can save by employing such people and make a greater profit, while the bureaucrats of the Department of Work and Pensions - who decides on who receive benefits - can carry on with their travels, hotel expenses and stationery paid for by the State. The result of all this for the disabled is cold, naked fear - of being rejected and excluded from society and the feeling of being unwanted. The knock-on result will include being beaten up on the streets, the perpetrators goaded with the idea that their taxes are being used for benefit fraud - despite the percentage of frauds given by the DWP is only 0.5%. In the past year, according to Poulton, street attacks on the disabled had risen by 42%.

Suicide among the disabled is rising due to the Reform Bill, the last count being 103, and evidence seem to indicate that it is nearing 150. Again, Poulton suggest that these suicides brings relief to the cost of the National Health Service. There seem to be a shocking similarity here, with the fate of the disabled as with the holocaust, where many Jews were put into unpaid labour, except without the gas chambers.

Then there is Dr. Francesca Minerva, a philosopher from Oxford University, also mentioned in Poulton's article. She recently suggested that babies born with disabilities such as Downs Syndrome should be killed. She then says that such children are not human and for them to live would be a burden on the national expense. Shades of Adolf Hitler! The snake is still talking and we are listening.

Here in the UK, where there is a strong social class ethic, academics are given a far wider respect than a commoner or unlearned person. Education is the catch-all in a person's worth, along with wealth. It looks to me that not only is the snake talking, but his seductively alluring many to deception under the false notion of high education, wealth and social status. I once attended a church where most, if not all of the graduates of my age believed in Darwinism. Despite their best intentions to hide their thoughts and feelings, and their attempts in forming friendships with me, I was able to detect an underlying current belief within them of my academic and therefore social inferiority.

It was 1973. The thunder rolled outside. I was alone in the house, as the rest of the family had gone out for the evening. As a devout believer in Evolution, I turned to the beginning of the Bible and began to read Genesis, starting with the very first verse: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

I was converted. There and then I turned from Evolution to Creationism in one turn of 180 degrees. God has spoken to me. I was convicted and believed.
God has saved me from my academic insanity!