Propaganda: Adam and Eve and Von Braun

Highly educated people are not immune from propaganda, and here is a short case study.

The famous rocket scientist Werhner Von Braun has often been cited as a scientist who opposed the teaching of evolution.

In a letter to the California State Board of Education, Werhner Von Braun stated:

"There are those who argue that the universe evolved out of a random process, but what random process could produce the brain of man or the system of the human eye? ...To be forced to believe one conclusion – that everything in the universe happened by chance – would violate the very objectivity of science itself."

This case is very interesting, because unlike some of the earlier scientists such as Kepler, Von Braun actually had a chance to live in an age where the works of Charles Darwin had become accepted by the scientific community. Also, Von Braun is a genuine scientist, at least by my standards.

And yet he wrote that letter and is cited by the creationists as a person who opposed teaching Darwinian style evolution. There is obviously a need to look at this closer.

Just a quick background, in case you were not aware: Von Braun was the German rocket scientist who developed the V2 bomb that was used to bomb London and at the end of WW2, chose to surrender to the Americans rather than the Russians. Later rose within NASA to become the head of the USA's manned moon program. Note that Von Braun was not involved in any science that had to do with evolution, such as biology.

Now let's get back to the debate on Adam and Eve. Von Braun did fall under the influence of fundamental Christians after he moved to the USA, and was "saved" by Jesus. Actually this is quite understandable, as Von Braun was somewhat upset with the idea that his rockets had been used by Hitler to kill people rather than travel to the moon. He was already starting to think that one advantage to working for the Americans was that they followed the Bible rather than purely nationalistic warmongering like Stalin or Hitler.

Secondly, he was a seriously compromised person, being an ex-Nazi SS officer, who had not spoken out against the horrors of the Nazis. Since he had obviously already converted to Nazism (apparently against his will) in order to carry on his work, it's not too surprising that he could have converted to a US religion if he thought that might help him carry on rocket work in the USA.

And finally, the statement "that everything in the universe happened by chance" is simply illustrating that Von Braun himself fell for the Christian propaganda - scientists do not claim the world evolved by chance. Natural selection is not "chance", and this is a very common and thoroughly discredited argument often used by creationists. Von Braun simply did not understand the issues clearly, although he may have believed he did. He was simply duped by the Christians into supporting their propaganda.

By combining an agonized personal past with an unchallenged logical fallacy, in a field where a person is not an expert, anyone can be duped by propaganda, no matter how smart and educated they might be.