Darwin Central is a global conspiracy which allegedly rules the academic world to maintain the pre-eminence of Charles Darwin‘s theory of evolution, to the consternation of devotees of creationism. In addition to the academic conspiracy, Darwin Central is rumored to have subsidiaries involved in other conspiratorial activities, including black helicopters, Area 51, the Illuminati, and water fluoridation.
Darwin Central is concerned with the theory of evolution as a scientific topic. We do not concern ourselves with either religious objections to the theory or with political objections based on the theory’s alleged social consequences.We recognize that some denominations which follow a literal interpretation of scripture object to biological evolution because they feel it conflicts with their interpretation of scripture. There are other denominations that do not share this view. The NCSE’s collection of Statements from Religious Organizations consists of a list of Christian and Jewish denominations, including the Roman Catholic Church, that accept (or at least do not dispute) evolution. There is also the recent statement opposing creationism by the Archbishop of Canterbury, leader of the 70-million-member Anglican Communion. We have no desire to participate in such inter-denominational disputes.
Regarding the alleged social consequences of the theory of evolution, we recognize that it has, at various times, been blamed for virtually all of the ills of society, including communism, fascism, racism, and eugenics — notwithstanding that such evils existed long before Darwin, and notwithstanding Stalin’s persecution of biologists who accepted evolution. It has also been said to be the basis for “ruthless laissez-faire capitalism“. We regard all such allegations to be essentially baseless, and even if such claims were true, it would not affect the scientific validity of the theory.
The authors of this blog, and its affiliated website, are conservatives (in the American sense of the term). We suspect that a great many in the scientific community are conservatives also, so they should feel especially welcome here. There is nothing socialistic, communistic, fascistic, or atheistic about science.
One of the great un-exploded myths of the 20th century is that the political left is the natural home of intellectuals. While that may be true for a certain kind of intellectual, we do not believe it to be true of scientists.
Science is one of the precious few examples of rationality in human experience. It appeals to the conservative mind for the same reasons that free enterprise does — it is reality-based, it focuses on what works, it rejects failed concepts, and it produces results. Like free enterprise, science will flourish where there is a minimum of governmental interference; it will wither and die in any kind of tyranny, including a theocracy.