Re: [asa] O'Leary to ASA: Disgrace!

I'm baffled by Denyse's claim that Schloss denies "that Hitler was
influenced by the Darwinism of his day" (which, she says, is "to sign on to
poor scholarship just for starters"). .Here is what Schloss actually says
in his Exposed essay on the ASA website:

*"That Darwin was used (or abused) in Holocaust thinking seems
uncontestable."*

Schloss later concludes:

Both Darwin and the Bible were seized upon by anti-Jewish zealots in search
of a
legitimating ideology. Hatred is notoriously indiscriminate in what it
cobbles together to
justify itself. Hitler, in particular, evidenced little regard for learning
and – as the
historical sources cited by recent defenders and critics of Expelled
acknowledge – he
extracted whatever was useful to support his preconceptions, from widely
ranging
popular, crude sources. *In the case of Darwinian and Christian tradition
though, there
really exist disturbing themes that were (and are) amenable to misuse. *However
the
fundamental ideas of the Holocaust were not just absent from, but contrary
to the
founders of each tradition. (Emphasis added).

Whether one agrees or disagrees with every aspect of Schloss' take on the
link between Darwinism and the Holocaust (did Hitler simply slyly use
Darwinian ideas for propaganda, or did Darwinian ideas shape Hitler's true
convictions, or both?), it seems to me that Schloss plainly acknowledges
historical connections between Darwinian ideas and the Holocaust.

On Fri, Aug 8, 2008 at 2:10 PM, Randy Isaac <randyisaac@comcast.net> wrote:

> If Denyse O'Leary or anyone else has a concern about the objectivity and
> fairnness of any of ASA's activities, they are more than welcome to contact
> me or anyone on our council and engage in constructive private dialog. We
> will correct all documented and verified concerns of bias and I urge them to
> retract any that aren't substantiated. We continue to foster and encourage
> serious dialog in the appropriate forums.
>
> Randy
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> *From:* David Heddle <heddle@gmail.com>
> *To:* ASA <asa@calvin.edu>
> *Sent:* Friday, August 08, 2008 12:47 PM
> *Subject:* [asa] O'Leary to ASA: Disgrace!
>
> In a comment on a UD post that might as well be titled: *Jeffrey Schloss:
> Traitor*, Denyse O'Leary says we and our organization are disgraceful.
> That we pander to the atheists so they won't be mean to us and will invite
> us to coffee. And that if there are any "serious scientists" in the ASA,
> they had better rescue the organization.
>
> Will someone volunteer to start working on that?
>
> See:
> http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/jeffrey-schloss-and-now-richard-weikarts-reply-to-him/#comment-293724
>
>
> David P. Heddle
> Associate Professor of Physics
> Christopher Newport University, &
> The Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility
>
>

-- 
David W. Opderbeck
Associate Professor of Law
Seton Hall University Law School
Gibbons Institute of Law, Science & Technology
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