Creation Research Database

Louis Agassiz and Alexander Winchell: Two Case Histories of Creationists Who Illustrate That Rejecting Genesis Influences the Acceptance of Racism

Bergman, Jerry (2020) Louis Agassiz and Alexander Winchell: Two Case Histories of Creationists Who Illustrate That Rejecting Genesis Influences the Acceptance of Racism. Answers Research Journal, 13: 11. pp. 221-229. ISSN 1937-9056

Abstract

Two prominent cases were selected that illustrate the tendency to interpret Scripture to fit with evolutionary biology. In this case, until around 1950, racist science (the academic term for exploiting science to support racism) was used to demonstrate evolution. Dividing humans into "races" is problematic because only one race exists, the human race. Thus I prefer the non-judgmental term "people groups." Nonetheless, the race belief was used by evolutionists to produce a hierarchy from the claimed lowest human race to the most evolved human race. In the 1870s Professor Chambers and his co-workers considered the Hottentot people only one step evolved above the gorilla, thus in their mind documented evolution. The lowest human and highest evolved ape were almost identical according to the many inaccurate drawings used to illustrate evolution. This was the main evidence used to document human evolution for over a century until claims of fossil discoveries of extinct humans were proposed by Louis, Mary and Richard Leakey and others.

Item Type: Article
Subjects: B Philosophy (General) > BU Creation, Evolution, and Society > BU5 Social Darwinism. Racism
B Philosophy (General) > BU Creation, Evolution, and Society > BU7 History of Creation Thinking
Depositing User: Admin
Date Deposited: 04 Sep 2026 23:44
Last Modified: 04 Sep 2026 23:44
URI: https://crsq.creationresearch.org/id/eprint/1679

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