Altruism

The mechanism of natural selection that Darwin proposed foresees stronger living things and those best adapting to the natural conditions in their geographical location surviving and continuing down the generations, and the unfit and weaker being eliminated. According to the mechanism of natural selection adopted by Darwinism, nature is an arena where living organisms fight to the death for a chance to survive and where the weak are eliminated by the strong.

Therefore, according to this claim, every living thing has to be strong and overcome others in all areas in order to survive. Such an environment has no place for such concepts as altruism, self-sacrifice or cooperation, because these can operate against the interests of each individual. For that reason, every living thing must be as self-oriented as possible and think only of its own food, its own home, and its own protection and security.

In fact, however, nature is not solely an environment consisting solely of selfish and savage individuals in which every living things competes for survival, and strives to eliminate or neutralize all others. On the contrary, nature is full of examples of altruism and rational cooperation, even when individuals risk death, the loss of their own interests.

Despite being an evolutionist himself, Cemal Yildirim explains why Darwin and other evolutionists of his day imagined nature to be solely a battlefield:

 Since the majority of scientists in the 19th century were confined to their work rooms, studies or laboratories and did not go to examine nature directly, they were easily taken in by the thesis that living things were solely at war. Even such a prestigious scientist as Huxley was unable to escape this error.9

In his book Mutual Aid: A Factor in Evolution, dealing with cooperation among animals, the evolutionist Peter Kropotkin expresses the error into which Darwin and his followers fell:

 . . . the numberless followers of Darwin reduced the notion of struggle for existence to its narrowest limits. They came to conceive the animal world as a world of perpetual struggle among half-starved individuals, thirsting for one another’s blood. . . . In fact, if we take Huxley, . . . were we not taught by him, in a paper on the “Struggle for Existence and its Bearing upon Man,” that, “from the point of view of the moralist, the animal world is on about the same level as a gladiators’ show. The creatures are fairly well treated, and set to, fight hereby the strongest, the swiftest, and the cunningest live to fight another day.”. . . But it may be remarked at once that Huxley’s view of nature had . . . little claim to be taken as a scientific deduction. . . .10

Evolutionist scientists interpreted certain features that could clearly be seen in nature in order to support the ideology to which they were devoted. The war that Darwin imagined to dominate all of nature is indeed a great error, because the natural world is not full of living things that fight for their own interests alone. Many species are helpful towards other species and, more importantly, are even altruistic and self-sacrificing toward members of their own.

Evolutionists are unable to account for the self-sacrificial behavior they encounter in nature. The authors of an article on the subject in one scientific journal reveal this helplessness:

 The question is why do living beings help one another? According to Darwin’s theory, every animal is fighting for its own survival and the continuation of its species. Helping other creatures would decrease its own chances of surviving, and therefore, evolution should have eliminated this type of behavior, whereas it is observed that animals can indeed behave selflessly.11

Honeybees, for example, will sting to death any intruder that attacks their hive. By doing this they are actually committing suicide. Because since their stings lodge in the enemy during the stinging process, a number of their internal organs are torn out of their bodies. The honeybees give up their own lives to ensure the security of the hive as a whole.

Despite being a particularly ferocious reptile, the crocodile displays an astonishing gentleness towards its young. After they hatch from the eggs, it carries them in its mouth to the water. Subsequently, it carries them either in its mouth or on its back until they are old enough to look after themselves. Whenever the young crocodiles perceive any danger, they immediately retreat to in their mothers’ mouth for shelter.

Yet the crocodile is both exceedingly ferocious and also devoid of conscience. One would therefore expect it to eat its young as food without a moment’s hesitation, rather than protecting them.

Among other species, some mothers have to leave the community in which they live until their young are weaned, and thus expose themselves to considerable risks. Some animal species care for their young for days, for months or even years after they are born or hatched. They provide them with food, shelter and warmth and protection from predators. Many birds feed their young between four and 20 times an hour throughout the day.

Among mammals, mothers face different problems. They have to eat better while suckling their young and must therefore hunt for more food. Yet as the young gain weight, the mother constantly loses it.

What one would expect an animal devoid of consciousness to do is to abandon its young after birth, because animals cannot even conceive of what these tiny creatures need. Yet they actually assume all the responsibility for their offspring.

Living things are altruistic not only when it comes to protecting their young from danger. They have also been observed to behave most considerately and helpfully towards others of their kind in the community they live in. One example can be seen when nearby food sources decline. In that event, one might expect stronger animals to rise to the top, neutralize the weaker ones, and consume all the food resources for themselves. Yet events do not actually transpire as evolutionists imagine.

In his book, the well-known evolutionist Peter Kropotkin cites several examples of this: In the event of a food shortage, ants begin using the supplies they have stored. Birds migrate en masse in search of food, and when too many beavers start living in one pond, the younger ones head north and the older ones south.12

As you can see, there is no ruthless fight to the death for food or shelter among these living things. On the contrary, even under the most difficult conditions, excellent harmony and solidarity are shown. It is as if these creatures work to ameliorate existing conditions.

However, one very important point needs to be borne in mind: These living things possess no rational mind with which to make decisions. There is therefore only one possible explanation for the way in which determine a particular objective and work together to attain it, even deciding on the soundest course for all members of the community—namely, God’s creation.

Confronted by these facts throughout nature, evolutionists’ claim to the effect that “Nature is a battleground, and the selfish and those who protect their own interests emerge victorious” is completely invalidated.

In the face of these features of living things, one well-known evolutionist, John Maynard Smith, addressed the following question to evolutionists:

 Here one of the key questions has to do with altruism: How is it that natural selection can favor patterns of behavior that apparently do not favor the survival of the individual?13

9 Cemal Yildirim, Evrim Kurami ve Bagnazlik (“The Theory of Evolution and Bigotry”), p.49.
10 Peter Kropotkin, Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution, 1902, Chapter I, http://www.calresco.org/texts/mutaid1.htm
11 Bilim ve Teknik magazine, No.190, p. 4.
12 Peter Kropotkin, Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution, 1902, Part II.
13 John Maynard Smith, “The Evolution of Behavior”, Scientific American, December 1978, Vol. 239, No.3, p. 176.