Why Does Christianity Spawn Evil Dictators?

[Diogenes]

Hitler claimed to be Christian. Stalin was a Christian acolyte. Trump, the 'Grab 'em by the _ _ _ _ _ President who is revered by fundamentalists, and now Vladimir Putin engulfs the world in war, misery, and genocide while championing his Christian faith. How does the faith of Jesus of Nazareth spawn such actors? https://religiondispatches.org/is-putin ... questions/

[TRANSPONDER]

You wrote: "One must remember that it is a particular branch of Materialistic science to which the blame could be hung - and that the scientists doing the warning are most likely not of that particular branch...they may be biologists rather than cosmologists and so understand the importance of preserving the planet-ship we are sailing upon [@ about 1.6 million miles per day] rather than creating space-junk and reaching for the stars...I did say "Exact Science" after all."

Now I see no difference in the science that works out ways of removing oil from the oceans and that projecting space -junk, other than we have turn to human welfare rather than what science is able to do. Which is well enough, but pointing the finger at any branch of science does not help, whether through mistaking Ethics for non exact science or to discredit Someone through a supposed association with science.

"What was all that about?"

"Nothing, Mr. Frodo; just clearing something up".

[William]

Sure - i did use the word 'blame' because the OP was pointing the finger at theists as being the problem and I was pointing out that it wasn't as clear-cut as that.
Also - I was specific as to the branch of science which has perpetuated the damage...

Anyway, it has since been pointed out that the thread is not about pointing fingers at non-theism but only at Christians, so since I have no horse in that race...

[TRANSPONDER]

Oh well;.... my fault for coming in half -way through a debate.

[Athetotheist]

[Replying to William in post #32

I was specific as to the branch of science which has perpetuated the damage...

The only branch of science which is intrinsically evil is eugenics.

[TRANSPONDER]

Is Eugenics even a science? Or is it rather a political philosophy?

[TRANSPONDER]

Q on p 1 of Google
Eugenics is the scientifically erroneous and immoral theory of “racial improvement” and “planned breeding,” which gained popularity during the early 20th century. Eugenicists worldwide believed that they could perfect human beings and eliminate so-called social ills through genetics and heredity.

[Athetotheist]

Is Eugenics even a science? Or is it rather a political philosophy?

Definitions from Oxford Languages: "the study of how to arrange reproduction within a human population to increase the occurrence of heritable characteristics regarded as desirable.
(bolding mine)

It was the science of breeding humans like dogs to serve an ideological end.

[TRANSPONDER]

I suppose one could call it 'science' like making poison gas is science. The fact is that science is amoral and it is a matter of ethics as to whether one should do something just because science says it's possible.

[Tcg]

Is Eugenics even a science? Or is it rather a political philosophy?

Definitions from Oxford Languages: "the study of how to arrange reproduction within a human population to increase the occurrence of heritable characteristics regarded as desirable.
(bolding mine)

It was the science of breeding humans like dogs to serve an ideological end.

It is also important to remember its strong ties to religion, most specifically, Christianity. Urbana Theological Seminary graduate student David Shudy has documented these ties:

Eugenics and Christianity

written by David Shudy, Graduate Certificate of Christian Studies student

Eugenics had strong ties to religion – specifically Christianity – ever since its advent in the late 19th century. Galton realized that the tremendous sacrifices required of individuals by voluntary participation in a eugenic program would only be possible through fervent devotion to eugenics as a civil religion. Religious leaders would indeed provide their support to Galton’s race-improving movement, sometimes even laying aside their pulpit duties to take up leadership roles in societies like the Eugenics Records Office or the American Eugenics Society. Overwhelmingly, the largest section of religious support for eugenics came from the liberal/modernist wings of all Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish denominations in early 20th century America. During the same time period, conservative Christians tended to oppose the eugenics movement, yet unfortunately, they did little in the way of fighting against eugenics. Years before the Nazis put eugenics into devastating practice, those few Christians who did speak out against the race-improving movement became prophetic in their denunciations.
...

“A Word from Urbana Seminary” welcomes David Shudy to our blog this week. David is a first year student at UTS with a strong interest in apologetics. David will send you the full paper if you are interested in learning more about the relationship between eugenics and Christianity in the early 20th century. His research holds many lessons for the church today as we grapple with our own culture.

https://www.urbanatheologicalseminary.o ... istianity/

Tcg

[Athetotheist]

Is Eugenics even a science? Or is it rather a political philosophy?

Definitions from Oxford Languages: "the study of how to arrange reproduction within a human population to increase the occurrence of heritable characteristics regarded as desirable.
(bolding mine)

It was the science of breeding humans like dogs to serve an ideological end.

It is also important to remember its strong ties to religion, most specifically, Christianity. Urbana Theological Seminary graduate student David Shudy has documented these ties:

Eugenics and Christianity

written by David Shudy, Graduate Certificate of Christian Studies student

Eugenics had strong ties to religion – specifically Christianity – ever since its advent in the late 19th century. Galton realized that the tremendous sacrifices required of individuals by voluntary participation in a eugenic program would only be possible through fervent devotion to eugenics as a civil religion. Religious leaders would indeed provide their support to Galton’s race-improving movement, sometimes even laying aside their pulpit duties to take up leadership roles in societies like the Eugenics Records Office or the American Eugenics Society. Overwhelmingly, the largest section of religious support for eugenics came from the liberal/modernist wings of all Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish denominations in early 20th century America. During the same time period, conservative Christians tended to oppose the eugenics movement, yet unfortunately, they did little in the way of fighting against eugenics. Years before the Nazis put eugenics into devastating practice, those few Christians who did speak out against the race-improving movement became prophetic in their denunciations.
...

“A Word from Urbana Seminary” welcomes David Shudy to our blog this week. David is a first year student at UTS with a strong interest in apologetics. David will send you the full paper if you are interested in learning more about the relationship between eugenics and Christianity in the early 20th century. His research holds many lessons for the church today as we grapple with our own culture.

https://www.urbanatheologicalseminary.o ... istianity/

From Google:

Eugenics is a scientific and social movement, based on Darwin's theories of human evolution, which was originally defined as the science of racial betterment—its name being based on the Greek words for “good” and “born” (Galton, 1865, 1869, 1904; Popenoe & Johnson, 1918/1935).

It seems that religion wasn't the only thing eugenics was linked to.