Quote: Francis Hitching


In the Jehovah's Witnesses book Life: How did it get here? we find the quote:

For all its acceptance in the scientific world as the great unifying principle of biology, Darwinism, after a century and a quarter, is in a surprising amount of trouble.

Francis Hitching, The Neck of the Giraffe, page 12

But that quote is just one sentence. What's the rest of the paragraph?
Evolution and Darwinism are often taken to mean the same thing. But they don't. Evolution of life over a very long period of time is a fact, if we are to believe evidence gathered during the last two centuries from geology, paleontology, molecular biology and many other scientific disciplines. Despite the many believers in Divine creation who dispute this ..., the probability that evolution has occurred approaches certainty in scientific terms.
So, Hitching says that evolution happened. And, he believes that evolution occurred across hundreds of millions of years. What his book actually says is that he dislikes Darwin's theory as to why evolution happened. Hitching believes evolution is directed by some sort of cosmic force.

Hitching is a TV script writer, who has written about Mayan pyramid energy, and done some "In Search Of..." episodes. He's a member of the American Society of Dowsers, and has written a book Dowsing: The Psi Connection. (And so on, but you get the drift.)

But regardless of Hitching's beliefs, the one-sentence quote is out of context. It leaves you with a wrong impression.

If you want to read all this for yourself, the book is The Neck of the Giraffe, Ticknor & Fields, New Haven, Connecticut, 1982. The quote is on page 4 if you find the paperback edition.


Last modified: 2 April 1999

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