I find it interesting too. Considering also that Darwin had studied theology. He was probably also exposed to writings by Aristotle in those studies, from which his own seem to be only an extension as far as the ideas of inferiority of certain peoples/classes are concerned.



Some did, for sure. I am not trying to make excuses for them.



I'm pretty sure that in Exodus or Deut you'll find that God instructs the hebrews to treat their captives well, to remember that they were once slaves in Egypt. There are also ideas presented in regard to the freeing of captives/slaves.

In that regard however, it's quite clear that slavery was the common practice between different cultures back then, when one people conquered another. That practice is still very much in effect btw. I don't think you'll find anywhere in the bible where God desires slavery to exist, condones it, only that he acknowledges it exists and provides remedies. In the NT, where it is mentioned eg; slaves obey your masters, keep in mind also that those words are directed to the faithful, some of whom were slaves in Greece or Rome. There is no mention of race or mental inferiority. Slaves could be descended from any people, many found themselves in slavery due to debt for instance. Children were sold into slavery to pay debts.



You are contradicting yourself. He wouldn't have rules for it if He didn't want it to exist.

God gave to Moses all sorts of commandments for things he apparently didn't enjoy (theft, murder) but was unable to deny the existence of. The commandments concerning murder, for example, do not mean God wants murder to exist. He did not give Moses any rules for things he 'wanted to exist'... ? no, he gave Moses rules for all sort of things.., but for those he did not approve of, including behaviors within approved behaviors, such as marriage and adultery within marriage, or incest within families, or eating certain foods etc he admonished the hebrews. Because he made rules for eating or not eating certain foods does mean eating violated his commandments. Slavery is mentioned a number of times. It does not mean God condones it anymore than murder or adultery, but rather it is a situation which requires remedies.

...He outlawed murder and theft but not slavery, so it must be ok.
The type of slavery that was practiced in the new world was theft... the Atlantic slave trade conducted itself primarily through the theft of persons. It's not difficult to see that, unless of course you choose to view Africans as animals in which case it becomes a roundup of cattle more or less. No where in the bible is this type of behavior or thinking condoned.



Darwin's writings, thought generally of as the foundation of evolution by many, eg; Darwinian Evolution, are nothing more than a veiled attempt to define, in a somewhat scientific manner, racial and class distinction. It's like tossing a caste system into western culture using science as a guise to defend itself.

Though Darwin, in all of his attempts to try to prove that the 'civilized' European white man is superior to other peoples, may have actually shot himself in the foot, taking all of western culture with him. I hesitate to call the Atlantic slave trade civilized behavior to begin with. But nonetheless, looking back 100 years it's more than evident that his ideas, as popular as they may have been and as difficult to rid from academia as they are, have actually become a foundation for the very things (atheism, abortion, breakdown of mores and traditional family values etc) that may, in the end, bring western culture to a halt more or less and allow it to be conquered, and perhaps even likewise enslaved, by another people more numerous than ourselves, most likely, muslims, perhaps the Chinese, hard to say. In Europe today for instance, there is a crisis of childlessness among white europeans and even govts have begun to decry the situation. Labor forces have dwindled, taxpayer bases likewise for the govts. The opposite is true for muslims of any nationality. The opposite is also true in India. China currently enforces population control but still far outnumbers any rival in that area. Whether it be a soft conversion to different values, a slow influx of those values/people or wars remains to be seen.

Darwin's racial and class distinctions as 'scientific' and predisposed toward european culture are not appreciated by other cultures and people, and these ideas as they are still being taught, divide us, even as americans, rather than unite and strengthen us. They provide precedence for racism and class struggle. They even assuage the emotional needs of the wealthy and powerful few to overlook the needs of wage workers, who afterall, are mentally inferior to themselves.