Book says evolution fosters racism

PETERSBURG, Ky., Feb. 8 (UPI) -- The founder of a Kentucky Christian museum that shuns evolution said in a book Darwin's theory fosters racism and genocide.

Ken Ham, who opened the Creation Museum last year in Petersburg, Ky., and co-author Charles Ware, president of Crossroads Bible College in Indianapolis, wrote "Darwin's Plantation: Evolution's Racist Roots," The Louisville Courier-Journal reported Friday. They argue the theory inspired the Nazi belief of racial superiority and the basis for the ruthless policies of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.

"What Darwinian evolution did I would say is provide what people thought was a scientific justification for separation of races," Ham told the newspaper.

In his book, Ham said Darwin's theory about natural selection puts some races "higher on the evolutionary scale" than others.

"Although racism did not begin with Darwinism, Darwin did more than any person to popularize it," Ham wrote.

Eugenie Scott, executive director of the National Center for Science Education in California, said Hitler rarely mentioned evolution.

"Darwinian evolution is based on natural selection, which means that any population can adapt to its environment," Scott said. "The ironic thing for the creationists is that Hitler grounded Aryan superiority as a God-given quality."