“It seems that you ought to be able to agree upon the biologic disfellowshiping of your more markedly unfit, defective, degenerate and antisocial stocks” (585.5).
Thus ends one of the most frightful passages in the Urantia Book. Whenever the book talks about human biologic improvement it makes my skin crawl. I can’t believe the above passage uses the word ‘stocks’. It sounds like its talking about cattle. Try doing a search on the words degenerate and defective. What appears on your computer screen is very, very creepy. I’ve been wrestling with eugenics for a long time now, and I think that I am finally coming to terms with it. It is difficult because our culture has rejected eugenics as the ultimate evil. But maybe we can consider the idea in a new light.
My wife helped a little boy named Tommy, a nine year old child with autism. He was a tough kid to work with, but my wife learned to love him. I met Tommy and his parents, and I saw two people who loved their child as much as any parent. They would do anything for him and they have no regrets. I believe that if someone came to them and said that they could heal Tommy and cause him to be a normal person they would say yes in a minute. I think that if God decided right now to heal every child with autism and eliminate this condition from the face of the earth all of the parents of all of the children would gladly embrace the great blessing that God has given them. No one would argue that this problem which has caused so much suffering should continue to exist.
Now I am not a medical expert but it is my opinion that autism is hereditary. I also believe that there are many physical conditions that afflict our planet that are also caused by problems in our genetic code. I believe it is God’s plan that these problems, like autism, that cause so much suffering, be eliminated from the planet. I believe that it is God’s plan to eliminate all genetic problems that cause harm to humans, including genetic caused tendencies toward violence. And I think that if God were to enact His mighty plan right now, everyone would see the wisdom of that action. But I also believe that it is God’s plan for us to correct these problems in our own way and in our own time. I think that God will help us to heal people who suffer from the ravages of genetic mistakes when we are ready to do it.
And so I see the eugenics discussion in the Urantia Book as making sense. When we consider genetic manipulation as a way to heal countless millions of people rather than the Hitlerish elimination of people groups, then we can see the wisdom of the idea. We are talking about healing physical, mental, and emotional illnesses even before they manifest themselves. We are talking about eliminating enormous suffering and pain from our planet forever. Rather than a nightmare, eugenics could be a dream come true. If we could step away from the abuses that have so far occurred in the name of race improvement, we can see the possibility of great good coming from a creepy sounding idea.
Well, only time will tell. In the meantime I sit and read and think. I watch my defective hair follicles die off one by one. And I dream of better things to come.
God Bless You,
William Whitehead
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