The newly launched podcast Great Minds with Michael Medved goes where few other podcasts would dare to tread. On a new episode, Medved talks with historian Richard Weikart about the clear intellectual and genealogical links between the thought of Charles Darwin and that of Adolf Hitler. Weikart, a meticulous scholar, traces the connection in his book From Darwin to Hitler, demonstrating that Darwin’s theory is tainted at its origins. This is an aspect of history that most historians won’t tell you about.

It’s timely for me because over the weekend my family went to see Darkest Hour, about the crucial moment of decision for Great Britain under Winston Churchill — whether to appease Hitler and seek peace, or to risk absolutely everything and fight. The movie is amazing, the best film I’ve seen in a while. It struck me that the tidal wave of evil unleashed by Nazi Germany, which the Allies were able to defeat once America entered the war, can in a certain respect be explained as the working out of the ideas, evolutionary ideas, that we cover here.

Those ideas weren’t completely defeated; that much is clear from Dr. Weikart’s discussion with Michael Medved. They live on as threads of materialist myth that have achieved the highest degree of respect in science, culture, and the media, and that in fact demand everyone’s agreement on pain of consequences ranging from social disapproval to the destruction, if you’re a scientist, of your entire career.

It’s a great conversation, twenty minutes uninterrupted, and free. Go to the Minds with Medved website to listen or watch. The audio is up now and the video will follow. While you are there, be sure to contribute to keep this great new program going. It is a production of Discovery Institute, so thank you very much! We are only two episodes in, and hope to make it a permanent feature among our offerings.