Darwin dissed again and again by a Brit! (Introduction)

by David Turell , Thursday, August 10, 2017, 18:31 (2444 days ago) @ dhw

dhw: A.N. Wilson is a theist converted to atheism and then converted back to theism. He courts controversy, and the headline of the article is worth quoting in full to get the tone of his views:
"It’s time Charles Darwin was exposed for the fraud he was
Two of his theories about evolution were wrong – and one resulting ‘science’ inspired the Nazis"
This sort of sensationalism may sell books and bring the writer into the public eye, but to call someone who devoted his life to his science a “fraud” and to couple his name with Nazism is gutter journalism of the worst kind. (If he were alive today, Darwin would have every right to sue.) As you say, the criticisms aren’t new, though the vicious implication that somehow the theory reflects the theorist (“compassion and compromise are for cissies”) perhaps takes them to a new low. In any case, one can’t help wondering why anyone would devote their time to writing a biography of someone they so obviously despise. I wonder how A.N. Wilson would react to a biography of Jesus by Richard Dawkins, advertised with the headline: “Jesus was a fraud who inspired some of the worst cases of genocide in human history”. I’ll look forward to reviews of the book, and will let you know what they come up with.

DAVID: Darwin did not know what he did not know and is known now, making many of his conclusions problematic. And the struggles of his acolytes to make evolution fit into his theories laughable.

dhw: Agreed. And I trust you are as disgusted as I am by the term “fraud” and by the other scurrilous ad hominems.

Darwin was not fraudulent, but like all humans he was careful to claim his share of the credit for the evolutionary discussion.