Change Your Mind on Darwinism, Get Expelled

The New Nazis in Germany: Darwinists Expel Professor Bechly for Coming Out in Favor of Intelligent Design

by Jerry Bergman, PhD

I have written three rather lengthy books about discrimination against scientists who dared to question the validity of Darwinism, more commonly known as Darwin Dissidents.[1] C.S. Lewis predicted that Darwinists would become totalitarians when he was alive, and history has proved him correct.[2] One recent case is that of the distinguished paleontologist, Dr. Günter Bechly, a world expert on fossil insects, who was forced to resign [a tactful way to say he was fired] as curator for the State Museum of Natural History in Stuttgart, Germany. Then, as a result, he was censored from Wikipedia.  The editors at Wikipedia attempted to cover up their censorship of Günter, a world-class expert on dragonflies, by claiming his heresy on ID had nothing to do with their decision. Instead, they proclaimed the censorship was because he is not “notable” enough to include in their free online encyclopedia.

The editors of Bechly’s Wikipedia page also grossly distorted their entry on Intelligent Design and made little effort to hide their ideological bias. What happened to Dr. Bechly is the same thing that happened to ID advocate Walter Bradley, a Baylor University Professor, whose Wiki entry was also censored heavily.[3] The Wikipedia staff claim that Darwinism is the scientific consensus worldview, therefore this justifies the censorship. This ignores the fact that scientific consensus on evolution is maintained by the practice of censoring dissenters. Having your scientific accomplishments erased is the ultimate insult for a scientist. Wiki editors, meanwhile, indulge far less notable atheists with extensive biographical entries.

This conclusion was affirmed by Darwinists themselves in Israel’s leading newspaper, the secular left-leaning Haaretz, which is Israel’s equivalent of the New York Times. The headline said: “A Respected Scientist Comes Out Against Evolution – and Loses His Wikipedia Page.”[4]

Günter Bechly, a devout Catholic from Germany, had a promising academic career as a paleontologist. He had published numerous papers in prestigious, peer-review journals – including groundbreaking studies he conducted into the evolution of dragonfly wings – and was even a curator at Stuttgart’s State Museum of Natural History. At least until 2016. That’s when he first came out against evolution and in favor of intelligent design.[5]

Haaretz repeatedly misspelled Bechly’s last name as “Blechy” or “Blechly” and added the standard insults directed at ID as a “pseudoscience rehash of creationism.” Fortunately, Haaretz embedded a clip from the Discovery Institute documentary Revolutionary: Michael Behe and the Mystery of Molecular Machines [6]  in which Dr. Bechly gets to tell some of his own story in an excerpt from the film (see the excerpt posted at Evolution News).

That is a remarkable bit of fairness in reporting, coming from the media’s leftist progressives who typically call on Darwinists to speak for ID. Reporter Omer Benjakob describes Wikipedia’s rationalizations for deleting Bechly’s page:

Accusations of anti-creationism bias are not germane to the purpose of [the article-for-deletion debate], and we don’t consider the stances of an article subject on a contentious topic in judging notability,” the deleting editor wrote, explaining that, “On balance, it seems like the case that the sources do not establish [Bechly’s] notability is more thoroughly argued than the case that they do, and there is no indication that any other notability criteria is met.”

See the German version to judge for yourself if Wikipedia is correct.[7] The German entry lists his many publications (many of them are listed at the end of this article). Looking past the ritual attribution of “creationism” to anyone who has the audacity to question Darwinism, Benjakob admits: “If Blechly’s [sic] article was originally introduced due to his scientific work, it was deleted due to his having become a poster child for the creationist movement.” The fact is, his scholarly articles never mention either creation or evolution.

Disregarding the “creationism” reference, Bechly was openly censored because he had moved over to the ID side of the evolution debate, not because he is not “notable” enough. The Haaretz reporter isn’t alone in stating this, which is obvious. Even Matt Young at the Darwinist group blogging site Panda’s Thumb admitted that ID supporters are probably correct.

David Klinghoffer wrote a piece at Evolution News a month or so ago, in which he charged that Wikipedia had removed the entry for the paleontologist Günter Bechly because Dr. Bechly had “converted” to creationism. I think he may have a point.[8]

Any time a Darwinist concedes that an ID supporter “may have a point” is a good day. Young adds:

Dr. Bechly has a long and impressive list of publications (not to mention a handful of species named after him, which Wikipedia deems irrelevant). I looked him up on Google Scholar and found tens to hundreds of citations to the first 10 articles listed. He has appeared on German TV, and he organized what appears to have been a major Darwin celebration in 2009. I am not at all familiar with how Wikipedia applies its guidelines, but I would have guessed that Dr. Bechly would qualify as being generally notable. Indeed, I kind of agree with one commenter, who noted that he should be of interest precisely because of his conversion to creationism.[9]

 The creationism name calling slur is common. ID is very different from creationism. Young then concluded

 had Dr. Bechly not converted to creationism, then he would have flown beneath the radar and his Wikipedia entry would have been safe. Unfortunately, he flew above the radar for a while, and some Wikipedia editor decided to have a closer look and ultimately decided to delete the entry. The editor claims that the creationism issue was irrelevant.

Had Dr. Bechly not left the Darwinist worldview camp, I have no doubt he would still be on Wikipedia, a key resource that those in the public who are interested in the origins debate are likely to consult. On the other hand, informed readers can learn a great deal about the evolution controversy, such as how it is deceptively manipulated, by this episode.

Below is a partial list of his peer reviewed scientific publications by Dr Bechly, a clearly meritorious record by any standard:

• Nel, A., Bechly, G., Prokop, J., Béthoux, O. & Fleck, G. (2012): Systematics and evolution of Palaeozoic and Mesozoic damselfly-like Odonatoptera of the “protozygopteran” grade. – Journal of Paleontology, 86(1): 81-104.
• Staniczek, A., Bechly, G. & Godunko, R.J. (2011): Coxoplectoptera, a new fossil order of Palaeoptera (Arthropoda: Insecta), with comments on the phylogeny of the stem group of mayflies (Ephemeroptera). – Insect Systematics & Evolution, 42: 101-138.
• Bechly, G. (2010): Additions to the fossil dragonfly fauna of the Lower Cretaceous Crato Formation of Brazil (Insecta: Odonata). – Palaeodiversity, 3 (Supplement “Contributions to the Willi-Hennig-Symposium on Phylogenetics and Evolution, University of Hohenheim, 29 September – 2 October 2009”): 11-77.
• Schmid, U. & Bechly, G. (2009) (Hrsg.): Evolution – Der Fluss des Lebens. – Stuttgarter Beitr. Naturk. Ser. C, 66/67: 197 S. (second revised edition published 2010)
• Bechly, G. & Wichard, W. (2008): Damselfly and dragonfly nymphs in Eocene Baltic amber (Insecta: Odonata), with aspects of their palaeobiology. – Palaeodiversity, 1: 37-74.
• Martill, D.M., Bechly, G. & Loveridge, R.F. (Hrsg.) (2007): The Crato Fossil Beds of Brazil: Window into an Ancient World. xvi + 625 S. – Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.
• Fleck, G., Bechly, G., Martínez-Delclòs, X., Jarzembowski, E. & Nel, A. (2004): A revision of the Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous dragonfly family Tarsophlebiidae, with a discussion on the phylogenetic positions of the Tarsophlebiidae and Sieblosiidae (Insecta, Odonatoptera, Panodonata). – Geodiversitas, 26(1): 33-60.
• Bechly, G. (2004): Evolution and systematics. – S. 7–16 in: Hutchins, M., Evans, A.V., Garrison, R.W. & Schlager, N. (Hrsg.): Grzimek’s Animal Life Encyclopedia. 2nd Edition. Volume 3, Insects. 472 S. – Gale Group, Farmington Hills, MI.
• Fleck, G., Bechly, G., Martínez-Delclòs, X., Jarzembowski, E.A., Coram, R. & Nel, A. (2003): Phylogeny and classification of the Stenophlebioptera (Odonata: Epiproctophora). – Annales de la Société Entomologique de France, n.s. 39(1): 55-93.
• Huguet, A., Nel, A., Martínez-Delclòs, X., Bechly, G. & Martins-Neto, R. (2002): Preliminary phylogenetic analysis of the Protanisoptera (Insecta: Odonatoptera) [Essai d’analyse phylogénétique des Protanisoptera (Insecta: Odonatoptera)]. – Geobios, 35: 537-560.
• Bechly, G., Brauckmann, C., Zessin, W. & Gröning, E. (2001): New results concerning the morphology of the most ancient dragonflies (Insecta: Odonatoptera) from the Namurian of Hagen-Vorhalle (Germany). – Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research., 39(2001): 209-226.
• Bechly, G., Haas, F., Schawaller, W., Schmalfuss, H. & Schmid, U. (2001): Ur-Geziefer – Die faszinierende Evolution der Insekten. – Stuttgarter Beitr. Naturk. Ser. C, 49: 96 S.
• Bechly, G., Nel, A., Martínez-Delclòs, X., Jarzembowski, E.A., Coram, R., Martill, D., Fleck, G., Escuillié, F., Wisshak, M.M. & Maisch, M. (2001): A revision and phylogenetic study of Mesozoic Aeshnoptera, with description of several new families, genera and species (Insecta: Odonata: Anisoptera). – Neue paläontologische Abhandlungen, 4: 219 S.
• Jarzembowski, E.A., Martínez-Delclòs, X., Bechly, G., Nel, A., Coram, R. & Escuillé, F. (1998): The Mesozoic non-calopterygoid Zygoptera: descriptions of new genera and species from the Lower Cretaceous of England and Brazil and their phylogenetic significance (Odonata, Zygoptera, Coenagrionoidea, Hemiphlebioidea, Lestoidea). – Cretaceous Research, 19: 403-444.
• Olmi, M. & Bechly, G. (2001): New parasitic wasps from Baltic amber (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Dryinidae). – Stuttgarter Beitr. Naturk. Ser. B, 306: 1-58.
• Nel, A., Bechly, G., Jarzembowski, E. & Martínez-Delclòs, X. (1998): A revision of the fossil petalurid dragonflies (Insecta: Odonata: Anisoptera: Petalurida). – Paleontologia Lombarda, N.s., 10: 68 S.
• Bechly, G. (1996): Morphologische Untersuchungen am Flügelgeäder der rezenten Libellen und deren Stammgruppenvertreter (Insecta; Pterygota; Odonata) unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Phylogenetischen Systematik und des Grundplanes der *Odonata. – Petalura, spec. vol. 2: 402 S.

Update: Bechly describes what happened to him in a recent podcast at ID the Future, “Wikipedia Throws Günter Bechly Down the Orwellian Memory Hole.” He mentions that he has discovered over 160 species of insects, has had 8 species of insects named after him, and has discovered 3 orders of insects—the equivalent in physics of discovering new atomic particles. At the Stuttgart museum, he was an ardent Darwinian. He even set up a boastful display at the museum’s Darwin Bicentennial in 2009 showing Darwin’s Origin of Species outweighing a pile of ID books. Out of curiosity, he decided to read some of the ID books. As a result, he became convinced that they made a better scientific case, and he switched positions for scientific reasons, not for religious reasons (he only converted to Catholicism after being expelled). His humiliation began in 2016 when he came out publicly in support of intelligent design.

[1] Slaughter of the Dissidents: The Shocking Truth About Killing the Careers of Darwin Doubters. Revised version 2012. Southworth, WA: Leafcutter Press; Silencing the Darwin Skeptics. Southworth, WA: Leafcutter Press. 2016; The current book that contains this section is Censoring the Darwin Skeptics. Port Orchard, WA: Leafcutter Press.

[2] Jerry Bergman. C. S. Lewis: Anti-Darwinist: A Careful Examination of the Development of His Views on Darwinism. Eugene Oregon: Wipf & Stock Publishers. 2016.

[3] https://evolutionnews.org/2017/10/youve-been-edited-another-id-scholar-walter-bradley-gets-the-wikipedia-treatment/

[4] https://www.haaretz.com/science-and-health/1.823247

[5] Omer Benjakob. https://www.haaretz.com/science-and-health/1.823247

[6] https://revolutionarybehe.com

[7] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Günter_Bechly.

[8] https://pandasthumb.org/archives/2017/11/creationists-wikipedia-page.html

[9] https://pandasthumb.org/archives/2017/11/creationists-wikipedia-page.html

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Dr Jerry Bergman, professor, author and speaker, is a frequent contributor to Creation-Evolution Headlines. See his Author Profile for his previous articles.

Read Slaughter of the Dissidents for shocking accounts of how Darwinist totalitarianism has destroyed lives and careers. Brian Thomas at ICR writes in his review,

Dr. Bergman has observed that evolutionary elitists incorrectly lump all “Darwin Doubters” into one group, “creationists,” who are then categorically ridiculed. Though highly qualified, these scientists and educators are verbally and physically threatened, lose privileges, lose opportunities for promotion, and lose jobs and whole careers, just for expressing some measure of doubt about the standard evolutionary story.

Silencing the Darwin Skeptics continues the documentation. Volume III is coming out soon, titled, Censoring the Darwin Skeptics.