MANKIND AND THE APE

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 657, 8 May 1929, Page 7

MANKIND AND THE APE

Evolution Theory Attacked BIG MEETING IN TOWN HALL THIS is the greatest war of intellect ever staged since the birth of the Nazarene. There are no non-combatants. Each one of us is either on one side or the other. We are facing an issue greater than most of us realise.” So said Dr. W. H. Pettit in a fighting speech during the course of the great anti-evolution demonstration held in the Town Ilall Concert Chamber last evening to protest against the teaching of evolution in schools. The building was crowded and speeches of protest were made bv the Rev. P. B. Fraser, of Dunedin, and Dr. W. H. Pettit and the Rev. A. A. Murray, of Auckland. Propaganda pamphlets were distributed at the doors. The meeting applauded the speakers enthusiastically.

-pWOLUTION in schools as outlined

in the new Education Department syllabus by the introduction o£ Hendrik Van Loon’s books is bringing with it the dethronement of the Bible as a sacred book and must destroy the faith of our children,” said Dr. Pettit. “The department has included two books by Van Loon, ‘The Story of Mankind’ and ‘The Liberation of Mankind.’ The books are nothing more nor less than unpriced and fantastic theories.” The speaker read a number of extracts from the books quoted, ridiculing the idea that there was an unbroken line of evolution from the Amoeba to man, and that the birds were evolved from reptile life. WINGS FOR CROCODILES “If crocodiles and Ijzards can grow feathers and wings,” said Dr. Pettit, “why does Kingsford Smith have to depend on the Southern Cross? He could grow wings and feathers, tyro, for surely he has as much intelligence as these Creatures.” (Laughter.) “Have we to allow our children to be taught the fables of thjr; DutchAmerican agnostic?” asked the speaker. “Evolution is not a proved fact, but an unproved hypothesis. I went through years of belief in the false theory of evolution.” There was no sign of any connection between the reptile and bird families as advanced by evolutionists, said the speaker. “When they say that reptiles evolved into birds, I say it is a deliberate lie and a thinly-veiled one at that,” said Dr. Pettit. “All nature bears witness to the lie of evolution and to the truth of Genesis.” The speaker went on to say that the theory advanced in proof of evolution that the human embryo recapitulated the history of the evolu tion of man from the original cell to humanity was entirely false. Sir Arthur Keith himself had said that at no stage did the embryo manifest anthropoid features. As to the contention that the embryo developed lines that corresponded to the gills of a fish, this was no proof of the recapitulation of the history of life. “As it is these so-called gills develop into the jaws and ears of the child,” said the speaker. “They do not develop into a fish’s gills at all.” NO REVERSION TO APES Referring to the Mendelian law of reversion to type, Dr. Pettit went on to say that there was no proof about it. Though ancestors’ characteristics often recurred, there was never a reversion to the apes. The alleged existence of vestigial organs does not prove that man developed from a tuatara lizard or will develop into an opossum,” he said amid great applause. ‘The vestiges of organs are due to disuse,” said Dr. Pettit. “That is a divine law. What you don't use becomes useless.” GEOLOGICAL STRATA Geological strata was often cited by the evolutionists to support their theory as to the order of evolutionary creation, but they did not offer any definite proof that one fossil developed from the other. Though they could do all sorts of things with fossils, they could not do that. They had built up theoretical men from a stray tooth, that had later been held to be the tooth of a bear. “I appeal to you all to stand together against ihe teaching of Shis hypothetical ‘science’ in our schools, concluded the speaker. “Let us hold to the Word of God *3 laid down in that book of books —the Bible.” “This is the crisis of to-day,” said the Rev. P. B. Fraser, M.A., during a i lengthy address. “The Bible is being set aside and ignored with its Divine inspiration. This move on the part of the Education Department is calculated to wreck the future of the teacher who teaches and the souls of the children who are taught. This meeting is called to protest emphatically against this move.” There had been no authority given by the people for this teaching to be introduced. It was being done secretly and surreptitiously. “We stand on Nature, hut not. like the evolutionist, on nature alone,” declared the speaker. “We stand also on the documentary inspiration contained in the Bible. The evolutionist stands nowhere. The Scriptures are the only faithful record of revelation and creation. The Bible is the only safe and

infallible guide*- By its very nature it is fixed, unchanging, incorruptible, universal, available to all, and suitable and satisfying to the needs of all mankind. “Will you permit teachers in our schools to wreck faith in that great Book?” asked Mr. Fraser. Science could not deal with origin. If it attempted to do so it took to itself the attributes of Deity and attempted to explain the creation of the universe. The question of the origin of man was not a scientific one, but a theological one. “The whole of the community is being taxed for education and the State has no right and should not interfere with the religion of the people except to take steps to ensure freedom of thought to everybody. Biological evolution denied the soul. CIVILISATION SINKING “Children go to high schools and universities to be taught evolution and I come back to laugh at the religion of \ their fathers,” said Mr. Fraser. “We appeal to all to stand against such teachings in. our primary schools—to i the members of education boards and j school committees, to teachers, to the Government and members of the legis-! lature, and to ministers of all faiths to stand out against the new syllabus. Don’t let the Education Department be a bureau for evolutionists’ propaganda!. It was appalling, he concluded, that so few lovers of the Bible and of Christ had any idea of the gravity of the present crisis. Civilisation was sinking, not in five or ten years, said H. G. Wells, but now. The real cause was the removal of the Scriptures from the supreme place in human life. Evolution dismissed the Bible as a fairy tale. Evolution absolutely dismissed Divine revelation and rooted reverence out of the soul and the scientist of this cult formed an unfavourable contrast to the negro who had reverence for God. It undertook to account for the origin of everything, but failed to account for benevolence or malignity, neither of which was found among the apes. The devastating effect of it caused parents to seek to protect their children from the effects of it. “Only those blindly hostile to the Christian religion can contemplate the use of Van Loon’s books as text-books. I have confidence in the common sense of the people, of the Government and Parliament that they will remove this blunder, this blot, this token of national apostacy, from the public schools,” concluded the speaker. DOCTRINE FROM BELOW “Evolution has passed like an epidemic through our universities and schools, and left nothing but wreckage,” said the Rev. A. A. Murray. “Evolution and Christianity are irreconcilable." Evolution was of heathen origin, he continued, having been formulated by the philosophers of ancient Greece. “As Christian parents we have the right to say what is to be taught our children in the schools,” said Mr. Murray. “They are not the children of the State, and we should not tolerate our children being taught doctrines contrary to the word of God. “I tell you that evolution is not a doctrine from above,” he said. “It is a doctrine from below, and it is one of the doctrines of demons. “It is anti-Christian, and if it hail its way it would sweep every vestige of Christianity from the earth. “I wonder that intelligent men and women should nose around cages at the zoo for their ancestors. We will go to the Garden of Eden for ours.” There was no resemblance between man and the ape. Man bore the physical, moral and mental attributes of God, with Whom he was capable of holding communion. God’s method was not evolution but creation, and man could not believe in both evolution and creation at the same time. Huxley had said that evolution had made it impossible to believe the Bible “If your minister preaches evolution do not sit in your pew another Sunday,” urged Mr. Murray. “Hit him in the pocket-book and do not sit in his church for one more Sunda3*.“ This sentiment was greeted with great, applause. The evolutionist could not deny the terrible reality of sin, and he eouid only account for it by saying that man was created with sin. The evolutionists made God the author of sin instead of man. and they took away man’s accountability to God. All. three speakers received an attentive hearing from a sympathetic audience. Mr. R. A. Laidlaw was in the chair.