Quotes from book
Eugenics and other Evils

Eugenics and other Evils

Eugenics and Other Evils: An Argument Against the Scientifically Organized State is a book by G. K. Chesterton arguing against the use of eugenics.


G. K. Chesterton photo

“The thing that really is trying to tyrannize through government is Science. The thing that really does use the secular arm is Science. And the creed that really is levying tithes and capturing schools, the creed that really is enforced by fine and imprisonment, the creed that really is proclaimed not in sermons but in statutes, and spread not by pilgrims but by policemen – that creed is the great but disputed system of thought which began with Evolution and has ended in Eugenics. Materialism is really our established Church; for the Government will really help it to persecute its heretics.”

G. K. Chesterton book Eugenics and other Evils

Source: Eugenics and Other Evils (1922), Ch. VII: "The Established Church of Doubt" (pp. 76-77). https://books.google.com/books?id=m2xaAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA76&dq=%22the+thing+that+really+is+trying+to+tyrannise+through+government+is+science%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj9uKmM_6jMAhUHgj4KHZr3DW0Q6AEILzAD#v=onepage&q=%22the%20thing%20that%20really%20is%20trying%20to%20tyrannise%20through%20government%20is%20science%22&f=false Dale Ahlquist, president and co-founder of the American Chesterton Society, commenting of this passage writes: "Eugenics is also about the tyranny of science. Forget the tired old argument about religion persecuting science. Chesterton points out the obvious fact that in the modern world, it is the quite the other way around." http://www.chesterton.org/lecture-36/ Lecture 36: Eugenics and Other Evils

Similar authors

G. K. Chesterton photo
G. K. Chesterton229
English mystery novelist and Christian apologist 1874–1936
Clive Staples Lewis photo
Clive Staples Lewis272
Christian apologist, novelist, and Medievalist None
Agatha Christie photo
Agatha Christie320
English mystery and detective writer None
John Galsworthy photo
John Galsworthy48
English novelist and playwright None
Rick Warren photo
Rick Warren90
Christian religious leader None
Peter Handke photo
Peter Handke9
Austrian writer, playwright and film director None
Umberto Eco photo
Umberto Eco120
Italian semiotician, essayist, philosopher, literary critic… None
Mario Benedetti photo
Mario Benedetti4
Uruguayan journalist, novelist, and poet None
Vladimir Nabokov photo
Vladimir Nabokov193
Russian-American novelist, lepidopterist, professor None
Rudyard Kipling photo
Rudyard Kipling200
English short-story writer, poet, and novelist None