[Dialogue] 'The Survival of the Fittest'

[Harry Wainwright]

   SOJOURNERSmagazine

'The Survival of the Fittest'Excerpt

'The Survival of the Fittest'



Jesus was a political revolutionary-not the meek figure he is commonly
portrayed as-whose teachings have been diluted, if not corrupted, by those
in positions of power, writes Obery Hendricks, professor of biblical
interpretation at New York Theological Seminary. Following is an excerpt
from his new book, The Politics of Jesus.

Despite their very public professions of Christian faith, conservatives seem
to owe their ideas and attitudes toward poverty more to the ideas of Herbert
Spencer, the British philosopher, than to Jesus and the Bible. Although he
lived and wrote in England, Spencer had great influence on American
political thought in the last decades of the 19th century. A measure of his
enduring influence is that his notion of the "survival of the fittest"
remains an important part of our social lexicon (the phrase was coined by
Spencer, not Charles Darwin).

Spencer argued that the pressures of impoverishment and constant struggling
for subsistence were actually a positive thing that, in the end, would have
a positive result: It would lead to human advancement, for the crucible of
poverty would allow only the best from each generation to survive. Those
with the most skill, intelligence, ingenuity, and tenacity would rise, while
those of lesser talent, smarts, and character would fall by the wayside. In
other words, only humanity's strongest and "fittest" would survive. But in
order to allow this superior caste to evolve naturally, Spencer reasoned, it
was important that the poor be given no assistance at all. No matter how
harsh their plight, no matter how many pressures and conditions were beyond
their control, they should be allowed to rise or fall on their own.

Charity was allowed in Spencer's scheme, because he thought that performing
charitable acts might further enhance the moral character of the fittest who
had already risen. Besides, charity was only a temporary intervention that
would have no effect on the ultimate evolutionary outcome. But government
aid to the poor in any sustained form would only slow the evolutionary
process. So for Spencer, public welfare laws were strictly to be prohibited,
as were public education and the regulation of housing conditions, no matter
how squalid those conditions. There were to be absolutely no measures to
promote equality of any kind, even equality of opportunity for social and
economic advancement. For Spencer, it was equality that was the enemy of
humanity, rather than inequality.

Spencer's thought had "an electrifying effect" in America in the 1880s and
1890s. Spencer's ideas and policy perspectives were embraced by a number of
American politicians, and his thought became an integral part of American
social philosophy. Not only does his notion of "survival of the fittest"
continue in our social and political consciousness, his attitude toward
poverty does as well, principally in conservatism's view of poverty. For
instance, echoes of Spencer can be clearly heard in Pennsylvania Sen. Rick
Santorum's statement in opposition to increased funding for child care for
the poor: "Making people struggle a bit is not necessarily the worst thing."

Can one imagine Jesus or any of the biblical prophets ever speaking about
the poor without compassion and love, anger and outrage? Yet many of
America's conservative politicians have done this without shame or remorse.
It brings to mind the question posed in the first letter of John: "How does
God's love abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brother or
sister in need and yet refuses to help?" (1 John 3:17). 

>From The Politics of Jesus, by Obery M. Hendricks Jr. Reprinted with
permission from Doubleday. Copyright 2006.



'The Survival of the Fittest'. Sojourners Magazine, December 2006 (Vol. 35,
No. 11, pp. 46-47). Excerpt. 

(Source:
http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=magazine.article&issue=soj0612&article=
061233c)

 

            



            

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