The Social Darwinist Lie That "Man Is a Species of Animal"

Those deceived by this irrational, unscientific claim maintain that all of man's attributes are a legacy from his so-called "animal ancestors." This has dangerous effects on a person's view of himself and of others. Someone who regards other people as animals will disregard their ideas, and consider their lives to be of little value. He will regard a person's death as no more important than that of a dog or a cat. The fact that people are in need will cause no discomfort to someone who regards them as animals and thinks that in any case, animals evolve through conflict and competition. Such a frightening view completely does away with love and respect among people. For these reasons, those deceived by Darwinism must not ignore what this deception will cost them.

George Gaylord Simpson says this about the way Darwinism regards human beings:

In the world of Darwin, man has no special status other than his definition as a distinct species of animal. He is in the fullest sense a part of nature and not apart from it. He is akin, not figuratively but literally, to every living thing, be it an ameba, a tapeworm, a flea, a seaweed, an oak tree, or a monkey—even though the degrees of relationship are different...¹⁶⁸

In fact, however, this claim is unscientific, irrational, and illogical. Humans and animals are entirely different entities created by God. Animals act in the light of instincts and lack reasoning. A human being, on the other hand, is an entity capable of judgment and who can reason. Those who maintain that man is a species of animal seek to apply the law of the jungle to human societies, which will lead to a terrifying chaos that eliminates all peace and well-being.

Darwin expressed this distorted view in one of his letters, wondering whether human beings' ideas could be of any value, based on the falsehood that they evolved from animals:

With me the horrid doubt always arises whether the convictions of man's mind, which has been developed from the minds of the lower animals, are of any value or at all trustworthy. Would anyone trust in the convictions of a monkey's mind, if there are any convictions in such a mind? ¹⁶⁹

Darwin's words neatly summarize evolutionists' terrifying view of humanity. This grave error of Darwin's came to pervade a large part of the Western world, and the idea that human beings are animals is still propagated in many countries today, even in school textbooks. For example, Biology: Visualizing Life, published in 1994, says:

You are an animal, and share a common heritage with earthworms and dinosaurs, butterflies and sea stars.¹⁷⁰

Benjamin Wiker, a university lecturer in science and theology and author of Moral Darwinism: How We Became Hedonists, states how, after Darwin there came an enormous deviation in the way man was regarded. He describes how the error of considering human beings to be the same as animals spread, ignoring the differences between them:

… most if not all of "traditional" morality is based on the assumption that human beings are a distinct species. Thus, the prohibition against murder is defined in terms of human nature. Don't murder! Don't murder what? Aphids? Anteaters? Orangutans? No, don't kill another innocent human being. With Darwinism, however, that species distinction between human beings and other animals is completely blurred. There is no longer any moral line to be drawn because the species line has been erased.

Darwinists like Richard Dawkins and Peter Singer understand this perfectly. ... Once we see ourselves as just one more animal on the evolutionary spectrum, then we must either affirm that our morality applies to all living things or deny that our morality has any foundation at all. Generally Darwinists provide a kind of incoherent stew of both. They treat some animals as if they had the same moral status as human beings, and treat human beings, in some respects, as if they were just one more animal. On the one hand, they will argue for animal rights; on the other, they assert that deformed or old and infirm human beings should be "put down" out of the same compassion we show for our pets.¹⁷¹

As we've seen, one main reason why evolutionists seek to portray man as a species of animal is their desire to eradicate all moral values. If man were an animal, as Darwinism would have us believe, then even the concept of morality would be of no importance to people. The damage this would inflict on society is beyond all imagining. For that reason, all humanity must be on its guard against Darwinism and the deceptions of this scientific forgery.

In alleging that human beings are no different from animals in physical and biological terms, Darwinism also seeks to impose the idea that human and animal behavior are no different from one another. This lets undesirable characteristics and behavior, such as violence, aggression, and selfishness, ruthless competition, rape and homosexuality, allegedly inherited from man's animal ancestors, assume the status of "natural behavior" for people. For instance, the evolutionist scientist Philip Jackson Darlington writes:

The first point is that selfishness and violence are inherent in us, inherited from our remotest animal ancestors. Violence is, then, natural to man; a product of evolution. ¹⁷²

All sorts of crimes are therefore seen as normal and justified, and it is even suggested that they should not be punished. In Ever Since Darwin, Stephen Jay Gould says this view began with the Italian expert on criminology professor Cesare Lombroso:

Biological theories of criminality were scarcely new, but Lombroso [Italian physician, Cesare Lombroso] gave the argument a novel, evolutionary twist. Born criminals are not simply deranged or diseased; they are, literally, throwbacks to a previous evolutionary stage. The hereditary characters of our primitive and apish ancestors remain in our genetic repertoire. Some unfortunate men are born with an unusually lage number of these ancestral characters. Their behavior may have been appropriate in savage societies of the past; today, we brand it as criminal. We may pity the born criminal, for he cannot help himself...¹⁷³

As is evident from the evolutionist Gould's description of Lombroso's idea, the commission of crime is regarded as something beyond free will, a legacy from human beings' alleged animal ancestors. However, this is an unrealistic claim. God has created all human beings with their lower selves that constantly impel them towards evil, but also with a conscience that protects them and cause them to avoid evil and do good. It is revealed in verses that:

And [I swear by] the self and what proportioned it and inspired it with depravity or sense of duty, he who purifies it has succeeded, he who covers it up has failed. (Surat ash-Shams, 7-10)

All human beings, therefore, are aware of whether their deeds are good or bad, and their behavior proper or otherwise. Everyone is responsible for avoiding what is evil and doing what is good. In the same way that those people who do good receive the finest recompense for their actions, so those who do evil will inevitably be punished. The theory of evolution, depicting all forms of crime and immorality as justified, leads people to terrible disasters, both in this world and the Hereafter.

Unlike animals, a human being possesses a soul breathed into him or her by God, reason, free will, conscience, common sense and the ability to distinguish between good and bad. Humans are able to make decisions and judgments, deliver punishment and reward, and learn from experience, and are tested by God. None of these abilities are to be found in any other living thing, nor is it possible for them to be so, because they have nothing to do with humans' physical structures, or their genes. They are all features of the human soul.

That being so, everyone with reason must acknowledge that truth and accordingly, live an honorable and determined life, reconcilable with good conscience.

References

168. George Gaylord Simpson, "The World into Which Darwin Led Us," Science 131 (1960), p. 970. ↩
169. Francis Darwin (ed.), Life and Letters of Charles Darwin (1903; 1971 reprint), vol. 1, p. 285. ↩
170. George B. Johnson, Biology: Visualizing Life, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1994, p. 453. ↩
171. "Darwin as Epicurean: An Interview with Benjamin Wiker;" http://www.touchstonemag.com/docs/issues/15.8docs/15-8pg43.html ↩
172. P. J. Darlington, Evolution for Naturalists, 1980, pp. 243-244. ↩
173. Stephen Jay Gould, Ever Since Darwin, New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1992, p. 223. ↩