Feedback for the week of December 26, 2005

Apartheid and Christian doctrine

Hi AiG

I dont know if you know it but I came across a web page that claims that your web sight has in the past been involved in the support of racism in south Africa the writer John Stear is an obvious evolutionist and has an axe to grind with you but if this is not true then there should be a rebuttal of it some where

Here is the webpage address [link deleted per feedback rules]

Yours S.G.
UK

The whole issue of Christian responses to the former apartheid regime in South Africa is an area fraught with difficulties and errors. My own position on the issue has always been clear. Throughout my adult life, I boycotted South African produce in UK shops, making clear to shopkeepers my distaste of the former South African regime.

Dear Sirs, Thanks once again for being such a resource on YEC matters. I teach college biology as well as having served as a high school SS teacher. My dean has ridiculed intelligent design as “moronic” and I am surrounded by other instructors who adhere to the party line of evolution. Although I have more education (27 years, surgical residency, vascular fellowship) than the rest of the biology faculty, it is still easy to become intimidated by the numbers of the opposition. When doubts arise in my own position, I find myself turning to you as fellow soldiers for reinforcement to “fight the good fight”. For obvious reasons, I have elected not to advertise my position to fellow faculty, since it would be like casting pearls before you know what. My college students have loved the material I have shared; 90% of incoming students do not believe in materialism. Evidently, it is “my job” as a biology faculty member to teach them into it. I therefore consider myself a “special forces” soldier behind enemy lines, and appreciate your support. Statements like “there is scarcely any coal that does not contain measurable amounts of C14” revive my own flagging spirits and remind me that it’s not me but the world that is going crazy. Although we may be forced more and more to go underground, a la the Philadelphia decision, with those who are willing to listen, we teachers are still wanting to teach the truth about science. “Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition.” God bless you guys! W.K. USA

John Stear (to whom we have previously responded on other topics, see Fake Feedback? Yet another false accusation from an Australian Skeptic and A Critique of John Stear’s ‘No Answers in Genesis’ Website) is incorrect in his assessment that a belief in creationism is hand-in-hand with racism. Although Stear accuses AiG of being duplicitous by removing the article he misconstrues, there was no Machiavellian plot in the absence of the article that he reproduces on his site. Because of the concern that others could misconstrue it, we did remove the article and the accompanying reprint of a South Africa bulletin, which was clearly critical of creationists (allying them with apartheid generally), and which mentioned that young children were being targeted for evolutionary indoctrination (our reason for its inclusion). The fact that the article no longer exists on the Internet Archive website to which Stear refers (www.archive.org), however, is not due to our removing it, as he suggests. That children in present day South Africa are being indoctrinated with evolutionism—as indeed they are in the UK, Australia and the USA—is undeniable, and this was our attempt to underline this. Where we initially may have made a mistake is posting the bulletin while not refuting the portion allying creationist teaching and racism. But, as a ministry, Answers in Genesis has always stood against racism of all forms, as anyone who has read our book One Blood should realise.

Our position on apartheid was aptly illustrated by a highly moving and personal article by Dr Carl Wieland, Apartheid and ‘The Cradle of Humankind’. In the article, Dr Wieland said this:

My research before coming indicated that anti-Christian elements were having a ‘field day’, subtly blaming Christianity and the church for apartheid.  Apparently, only a minority of Christians/denominations spoke out strongly against apartheid. The Dutch Reformed Church, almost like a ‘state church’, was for some years a compliant partner in many government policies.  This same church/state relationship ensured that most South Africans were not taught evolution in schools.  Thus, many believed ‘in Adam and Eve and Genesis’.  So no wonder the elite were now saying that getting rid of South Africa’s creation-based Christian heritage (mostly by aggressively pushing evolution) was part and parcel of vanquishing racism.

Dr Wieland goes on to show that the former errors of the Dutch Reformed Church and other Christians were not based on a true understanding of the biblical position, which is that all the so-called ‘races’ are descended from Adam. ‘And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth.’ (Acts 17:26). Dr Jonathan Sarfati, in a previous feedback, has shown that, despite their earlier errors, the Dutch Reformed Church reversed their theology on the matter in the 1980s, before white supremacy came to an end (see The Bible vs slavery and apartheid).

While the unfortunate existence of racism in Christian churches is not denied, it must be emphasised that it always occurs because of a faulty interpretation of biblical truth. True biblical doctrine is opposed to racism. The same cannot be said of evolutionary theory. While many, many evolutionists are strongly opposed to racism, it cannot be denied that many racists see their beliefs as a natural corollary of evolutionary belief.

In 1947, evolutionary atheist Sir Arthur Keith admitted:

The German Führer, as I have consistently maintained, is an evolutionist; he has consciously sought to make the practice of Germany conform to the theory of evolution.¹

A belief in evolution can easily be used to suppose that one race or another is more or less highly evolved than other races. This has led to many examples of injustices perpetrated in the past. Indeed, even in South Africa, it can be shown that faulty ‘Christian’ theologies were caused by compromising belief in Genesis with evolutionary ideas. It is true that many evolutionists find racism to be abhorrent, and would be opposed to such ideas. Nevertheless, racism draws comfort from evolutionary doctrine, but is opposed by true biblical doctrine.

There is a large wealth of material on this site which refutes racism from a biblical perspective (see Q&A: Racism).

Paul Taylor
AiG–UK

Reference

1. Evolution and Ethics, Putnam, NY, USA, p. 230, 1947. Return to text.

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