Authors: Richard Trott (trott@gandalf.rutgers.edu), James Lippard (lippard@ccit.arizona.ed

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Authors: Richard Trott (trott@gandalf.rutgers.edu),
	 James Lippard (lippard@ccit.arizona.edu)
  Title: Creationism Implies Racism?
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By Richard Trott:

Henry M. Morris, among many other creationists, has repeatedly stated
that evolutionary theory is often used as "a pillar of racism." For
example, in _The Troubled Waters of Evolution_ (1974), Morris writes
(p. 164):
	
	As the 19th century scientists were converted to evolution,
	they were thus also convinced of racism.  They were certain
	that the white race was superior to other races, and the reason
	for this superiority was to be found in Darwinian theory.
	[end of extract]


It is instructional to examine the following passage by Morris in that
light. [1]

From Morris's _The Beginning of the World_ (1991), pp. 147-148:

	The descendants of Ham were marked especially for
	secular service to mankind.  Indeed they were to be 'servants of
	servants,' that is 'servants _extraordinary!_'  Although only
	Canaan is mentioned specifically (possibly because the branch of
	Ham's family through Canaan would later come into most direct
	contact with Israel), the whole family of Ham is in view.  The
	prophecy is worldwide in scope and, since Shem and Japheth are
	covered, all Ham's descendants must be also.  These include all
	nations which are neither Semitic nor Japhetic.  Thus, all of
	the earth's 'colored' races,--yellow, red, brown, and
	black--essentially the Afro-Asian group of peoples, including
	the American Indians--are possibly Hamitic in origin and
	included within the scope of the Canaanitic prophecy, as well as
	the Egyptians, Sumerians, Hittites, and Phoenicians of antiquity.

	The Hamites have been the great 'servants' of mankind in
	the following ways, among many others: (1) they were the
	original explorers and settlers of practically all parts of the
	world, following the dispersion at Babel; (2) they were the
	first cultivators of most of the basic food staples of the
	world, such as potatoes, corn, beans, cereals, and others, as
	well as the first ones to domesticate most animals; (3) they
	developed most of the basic types of structural forms and
	building tools and materials; (4) they were the first to develop
	fabrics for clothing and various sewing and weaving devices; (5)
	they were the discoverers and inventors of an amazingly wide
	variety of medicines and surgical practices and instruments; (6)
	most of the concepts of basic mathematics, including algebra,
	geometry, and trigonometry were developed by Hamites; (7) the
	machinery of commerce and trade--money, banks, postal systems,
	etc.--were invented by them; (8) they developed paper, ink,
	block printing, movable type, and other accoutrements of
	writing and communication.  It seems that almost no matter what
	the particular device or principle or system may be, if one
	traces back far enough, he will find that it originated with the
	Sumerians or Egyptians or early Chinese or some other Hamitic
	people.  Truly they have been the 'servants' of mankind in a
	most amazing way.

	Yet the prophecy again has its obverse side.  Somehow
	they have only gone so far and no farther.  The Japhethites and
	Semites have, sooner or later, taken over their territories, and
	their inventions, and then developed them and utilized them for
	their own enlargement.  Often the Hamites, especially the
	Negroes, have become actual personal servants or even slaves to
	the others.  Possessed of a genetic character concerned mainly
	with mundane matters, they have eventually been displaced by the
	intellectual and philosophical acumen of the Japhethites and the
	religious zeal of the Semites.  [end of extract]

Morris concludes that this is not racist by invoking a strange 
definition of racism.  Somehow, if other human beings are 
responsible for the plight of a group of people, that is racism; 
however, if someone (such as Morris) believes that a general line of people
(such as the Hamites) are "possessed of a genetic character" that makes them 
innately less "intellectual," "philosophical," and "religious" than the other
approximately two thirds of humanity, this is not racism.  Morris, for
additional mitigation, couples this with an allowance for individual 
exceptions.  Morris writes (ibid., p. 148):

	These very general and broad national and racial
	characteristics obviously admit of many exceptions on an
	individual genetic basis.  It is also obvious that the
	prophecy is a divine description of future facts, in no
	way needing the deliberate assistance of man for its accomplishment.
	Neither Negroes nor any other Hamitic people were intended to be
	forcibly subjugated on the basis of this Noahic declaration.
	The prophecy would be inevitably fulfilled because of the innate
	natures of the three genetic stocks, not by virtue of any
	artificial constraints imposed by man. [end of extract]

I questioned Henry Morris about this issue personally in North East,
Maryland, on July 18, 1993 shortly after he made an address at a
Christian service.  Morris claimed that these pronouncements are not
racist because there are "black Jews" and black "Indians" who are not
Hamitic.  (Note that this appears to be flatly contradictory to
Morris's claim, quoted above, that "all of the earth's 'colored'
races,--yellow, red, brown, and black" may be Hamitic.)  Furthermore,
Morris pointed out that there are whites who have been "slaves" and
are Hamitic.  It is peculiar that any mention of white Hamites is
conspicuously absent from Morris's book.  Of course, the issue is not
whether Morris believes all swarthy people are Hamitic, but rather
whether he believes that the lineages that are Hamitic are, in
general, genetically predisposed to be less "intellectual,"
"philosophical," and "religious" than those that are not Hamitic.
(Incidentally, Morris confirmed for me that he believes African
Americans are Hamitic.)

In our conversation, Morris also made a big deal about individual
exceptions to the prophecy.  Of course, I am not concerned with
whether or not Morris believes that there are exceptional individuals
within each of the three genetic stocks; I am concerned with whether
Morris believes that one of the three genetic stocks is, in general,
intellectually, philosophically, and religiously lesser than the other
two.  The existence of exceptions to the prophecy does not address
this issue.


NOTES

[1] A special "thank you" to Dan Ashlock for tracking down the
relatively obscure Morris book, _The Beginning of the World_, in a
library at Iowa State University.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
By Jim Lippard:

Tom McIver, an anthropologist who has written several articles for
_Creation/Evolution_, _NCSE Reports_, and the _Skeptical Inquirer_,
as well as the book _Anti-Evolution: An Annotated Bibliography_, has
a book on creationism that will be published by the Univ. of California
Press.  Chapter 15 of the book is titled "Creationism and Racism," and
the history of connections between creationism and racism.  A shorter
version of the chapter will be published in a future issue of _Skeptic_
magazine (probably the issue after next, i.e., vol. 2, no. 4).

Anyway, I wanted to share some of it here.  McIver begins with a bunch
of quotes from creationists who maintain that racism comes from
belief in evolution--Henry Morris, Ken Ham, Bert Thompson, Malcolm
Bowden, etc.--it's a pretty long list.  This part really caught my
eye, though:

	"Evolution and racism are the same thing," declares Jerry Bergman
	(McIver 1990:21; see Bergman's "Evolution and the Development of
	Nazi Race Policy" in _Bible-Science Newsletter_ [1988] and articles
	in _Creation Research Society Quarterly_ [1980], _CSSHQ_ [1986],
	and _Creation Ex Nihilo Technical Journal_ [1991, 1992]).[2]

	[2] Bergman has been featured in many creationist publications for
	his complaint that he was denied tenure and dismissed from Bowling
	Green State University "solely because of my beliefs and publications
	in the area of creationism"; a cover story, for instance, in the
	Creation Science Legal Defense Fund's magazine _Creation_ ("The
	Jerry Bergman Story," 1984).  In Bergman's _The Criterion_ (preface
	by Wendell Bird, foreword by John Eidsmoe), Luther Sunderland said
	Bergman was fired "solely" because of his religious beliefs--his
	creationism (1984:64).  But in a signed letter published in David
	Duke's National Association of White People newsletter, Bergman
	stated that "reverse [racial] discrimination was clearly part of the
	decision"--i.e., that it was *not* solely religious discrimination
	(Bergman 1985:2).

McIver goes on to look at the racism that arises from a particular
interpretation of Noah's three sons and the curse on Ham, from
polygenism (inferior pre-Adamite people), connections with the
Ku Klux Klan, Anglo-Israelism, and the Christian Identity movement,
etc.  Some interesting points of connection:

	* Prominent fundamentalists connected with the KKK:  Bob Shuler,
	  Billy Sunday, and Bob Jones, Sr.  (McIver says that "Perhaps
	  40,000 fundamentalist ministers joined the Klan.")
	* Prominent creationists affiliated with Bob Jones University:
	  Emmett Williams, former editor of the _Creation Research Society
	  Quarterly_ and George Mulfinger, CRS board member.
	* Gerald Winrod, founder of Defenders of the Christian Faith,
	  published the "openly racist" magazine _Defender_, which published
	  creationist articles by George McCready Price, W.B. Riley, and
	  A.I. Brown.  For a time, it also published Harry Rimmer's newsletter
	  in its pages.  (Riley was the leader of the World's Christian
	  Fundamentals Association, a prominent fundamentalist group in the
	  1920's.  He openly advocated white supremacy.)
	* Charles Totten, the Yale military science instructor who came up
	  with alleged calculations proving "Joshua's Missing Day" (later
	  turned into an urban legend about NASA by Harold Hill), was also
	  an advocate of British-Israelism (promoted in his journal _Our
	  Race_) and a pyramidologist.
	* James Gray, editor of the _Moody Monthly_ and head of the Moody
	  Bible Institute, was a firm believer in the genuineness of the
	  anti-Semitic fraud _Protocols of the Elders of Zion_.  When Henry
	  Ford publicly apologized for a series of articles by A.J. Cameron
	  (another British-Israelite) about the _Protocols_ in Ford's
	  Dearborn, Mich. newspaper, Gray claimed that Ford's apology was
	  itself evidence of Jewish conspiracy.
	* Jarah Crawford, a Vermont Assembly of God minister, claims that
	  scientific creationism isn't creationist enough because it allows
	  for evolution of races.
	* Herman Otten, editor of _Christian News_, is now an advocate of
	  Holocaust revisionism.

There's lots more (36 pages in this chapter), but you'll have to wait
for the book (or at least the _Skeptic_ article).

All this shows that racism is perfectly happy to rely for its foundation
on creationism rather than evolution.