Jerry Bergevin, New Hampshire Legislator, Links Evolution With Nazis And Columbine

A Republican state lawmaker in New Hampshire who introduced legislation to stop the teaching of evolution in schools has claimed that the theory of evolution lead to the Columbine massacre.

Republican State Rep. Jerry Bergevin told the Concord Monitor last week that his bill will teach evolution as a still tentative theory based on what he said is the political impact of the concept on society. Bergevin, author of one of two anti-evolution bills pending in the New Hampshire Legislature, linked the "worldview" of evolution to the rise of the Nazi Party, among other evils.

"I want the full portrait of evolution and the people who came up with the ideas to be presented. It's a worldview and it's godless. Atheism has been tried in various societies, and they've been pretty criminal domestically and internationally. The Soviet Union, Cuba, the Nazis, China today: they don't respect human rights," he said.

"As a general court we should be concerned with criminal ideas like this and how we are teaching it... Columbine, remember that? They were believers in evolution. That's evidence right there," he said.

Bergevin's bill was filed alongside a bill sponsored by two other Republican lawmakers that would broadly call for science teachers to emphasize that new scientific results can dispute established scientific theories. Both bills have been introduced for the 2012 legislative session, which begins this month in Concord. Under New Hampshire's legislative rules, both bills will receive a hearing before a relevant committee.

The bills come at the same time that Indiana legislators will also be wrestling with the subject of creationism, with a bill requiring the teaching of the concept in the state's public schools. The bill has gained the wrath of the National Center for Science Education, whose executive director said the legislation violated the Supreme Court's ruling on the issue.

"The obvious problem is that the Indiana legislature can't authorize a school district to violate the Constitution," NCSE executive director Eugenie Scott said in a statement. "And the Supreme Court held in its 1987 decision in Edwards v. Aguillard, that it's unconstitutional for creation science to be taught in public schools."

The NCSE has not returned a request for comment regarding Bergevin's comments.

Last year, seven states rejected bills designed to bring teach creationism in public schools. The bills were designed after a Louisiana law regarding the teaching of creationism. The Louisiana law, passed in 2008, allows for the teaching of any concept that challenges a scientific theory in order to promote thinking by students.

The New Hampshire bill comes as part of an increasingly conservative tilt in the New Hampshire Legislature, which is dominated by Tea Party affiliated Republicans who were elected in 2010. Bergevin, who was backed by the New Hampshire chapter of the Republican Liberty Caucus in his 2010 race, has introduced a series of conservative bills in his first year in office. Among the bills were proposals to make the killing of an unborn child a first degree murder offense and to allow churches to engage in political campaigning.

Harrell Kirstein, the spokesman for the state Democratic Party, declined to comment on Bergevin's statement.

Comments

[f33dback]

01:28 PM on 02/13/2012

I don't see why evolution has to be Godless, to me evolution shows movement of life towards complexity or more complex forms, and couldn't that be seen as movement towards God?

It is depressing that the people with power (politicians) are able to make these statements and attempt to get these kinds of laws passed, again, religion in it's current forms seems to stunt human spiritual and intellectual growth, another attempt to keep us int he "Dark Ages".

[GodlessGuru]

06:37 PM on 02/12/2012

All religion should be reserved for religious gatherings or said in private. Religion should be kept out of politics, sport, schools, courts, and all public life. Countries aren't religious. Only people have supernatural beliefs, none of which are more valid than any other.

Jerry Bergevin is a caveman, or rather, he has evolved from cavemen. Of course evolution is godless, and all the more authentic for it. There is no plausible alternative or argument against it. It is proven beyond any doubt. The case for intelligent design is irretrievably lost and it's proponents are simply superstitious and deluded regressives.

[James Brown]

01:03 PM on 02/12/2012

Damn - just when you thought it was safe to go out again...

[James Nigh]

09:18 PM on 02/03/2012

ARE YOU F****** KIDDING ME??????????!!!!!!!!!!!

[7CD7]

10:14 AM on 01/25/2012

Rep. Bergevin is also the sponsor of the bill in NH that allows people to refuse to provide accommodations, goods or services to gay couples getting married in New Hampshire.The bill allows the discrimination if a business owner, an employee or anyone else felt providing the services would violate his or her conscience or religious faith. He is evil.

[GentleGim]

07:44 PM on 01/19/2012

The Columbine shooters also believed the world was round... does that mean it isn't?

[1dljones]

08:54 AM on 01/11/2012

Ok, I've been hiding under a rock. Where did this guy come from? Could be we';re a little detached here in the Pacific NW, but I thought that they had banned witch hunts back there in New Hampshire.

[mojo filter]

01:09 PM on 01/10/2012

Evolution isn't dogma. If they had evidence that it was false, they might win the nobel prize. Scientists would look at it. That evidence doesn't exist though.

[K August]

04:12 PM on 01/07/2012

"and to allow churches to engage in political campaigning."

Great.......the Government could use the money........ they've been skirting their tax exempt status for far to long and gotten away with it!

[kathy smelser]

11:22 AM on 01/10/2012

what they should is fine them for getting involved in politics and state decisions ......

[cobraxus]

02:15 PM on 01/07/2012

these people are their own worst argument

[HockeyMom]

11:54 AM on 01/06/2012

Can we apply these same strangle holds on the understanding of gravitational pull? It's just a theory right? Maybe the apple fell today but maybe it won't tomorrow. You can't prove tomorrow.

[Bob Metcalfe]

09:55 PM on 01/27/2012

Better if they tested it by jumping off a high building :-).

[HockeyMom]

10:22 AM on 01/30/2012

That would work for me. hahahahaha

[trinity]

10:24 PM on 01/05/2012

This is not a huge jump for Indiana as they already give public funding to religious schools in the form of vouchers....and it's only "certain" religious schools picked by the state....

[an seanchus mor]

10:54 AM on 01/05/2012

To be honest it was messrs Hitler & co’s lack of understanding of evolution which lead to the eugenics program.
This program was more based on cattle or dog breeding experience of humanity than any highly advanced scientific endeavour such as evolution.

A proper understanding of evolution would dispel eugenics.

There is a persistent myth that National Socialism evolved (pardon the use) out of a seedy plot from criminally insane cold evil genius types whereas in reality it was ill-educated bully boys who barley understood anything they ever turned their hands to, and as such relied heavily on traditional and crude cultural norms.
This is why war and killing appealed so much, not much brainpower required.

Look at the balkan roots of fascism
http://staff.lib.msu.edu/sowards/balkan/lect18.htm
Look further and you’ll find ignorance is the driving force for fascism not education, ignorance.
BTW its making a comeback in 'Balkanland'.

[Lauren Lamourine]

06:07 AM on 01/05/2012

You can see the proccess of evolution in today's world by simply looking at different dog breeds.

Technically, regardless of the breed, all dogs are in the species Canis lupus- the gray wolf. They are in a subspecies called familiaris. While it is unlikely for a male gray wolf to run up onto a poodle, wolves do still mate with the larger breeds, such as shepherds. The result is fertile offspring regardless of sex. That pup can mate with a wolf, dog, or another "wolfdog". No matter how may generations go on, the resulting pups are fertile.

Gray wolves also mate with coyotes in the wild, more common than one might think, and the result is usually in fertile pups. The red wolf is actually becoming known as a hybrid between the two, rather than its own species.

So, one would think that if a wolf can get with either a domestic dog or a coyote, that a dog could produce infinite fertile generations with a coyote, yes? Wrong. The "coydog" is almost completely infertile after three generations. The DNA does not fit together.

[Richard Norgard]

10:46 PM on 01/04/2012

The proper place for the study of religious beliefs is in a church or temple, at home, or in a course on comparative religions, but not in a biology class. There is no place in our world for an ideology that seeks to close minds, force obedience, and return the world to a paradise that never was. Students should learn that the universe can be confronted and understood, that ideas and authority should be questioned, that an open mind is a good thing. Education does not exist to confirm people's superstitions, and children do not learn to think when they are fed only dogma."
-- Tim Berra, Evolution and the Myth of Creationism