Worldview Wednesday
Last week, famed evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins caused quite a stir with a tweet he published regarding the use of eugenics with humans:
If you are not familiar with the practice of eugenics, it is essentially the strategic practice of controlled breeding with the singular goal of improving the population of a particular organism.
Richard Dawkins is correct that scientists have made it common practice to utilize eugenics in plants and animals. But, why has it failed with humans? This seems to be the issue Dawkins is addressing.
According to Dawkins, eugenics fails with humans because of those pesky ideological and moral grounds we won’t surrender. In essence, Dawkins is stating that if humans would simply act more like animals, eugenics would work! If we would only forfeit our humanity, we could strategically breed, and it would ultimately benefit all.
However, it is the last part of the tweet that is most interesting:
Facts ignore ideology.
Shall we speak of facts?
Does Richard Dawkins factually know what a superior human looks like?
Factually speaking, what takes priority; intelligence or strength? What is the ideal ratio for the genders? Is there a universal ideal for height, weight, and body type? Is there a superior ethnicity? How does one factor in predisposition to disease? Is there a specific climate in which humans should breed and dwell?
Better yet, does the picture below represent a superior human?
I’m sure Richard Dawkins thinks so.
The simple fact is this…
It is impossible to be objective when describing the ideal human.
In fact, every time in human history that a particular population of humans have attempted to create an ideal humanity, the results have been catastrophic.
None of this should surprise one who possesses a Christian worldview, for in the Christian worldview the inherent value of humanity is decisively established on page one of the biblical text:
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, all the earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.”
27 So God created man in His own image;
He created him in the image of God;
He created them male and female.
28 God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it… (Genesis 1:26–28a, HCSB)
This passage explains why eugenics works so well in all other forms of life. Humanity has been given the power to rule in just such a manner!
However, the reason eugenics will unequivocally never work human-to-human is because every single human is created in the image of God. The imago Dei is what makes each and every human far too valuable to rank against another. This is why any and all human rights injustices should be so difficult for the Christian to stomach, whether it be matters of human trafficking, slavery, displacement, immigration, abortion, and others.
Human life is precious, and worthy of being fought for in all situations and circumstances. I pray that Richard Dawkins and the thousands of people who liked his message would have a significant change of heart.
