It’s not possible to understand current controversies about physician-assisted suicide, euthanasia, eugenics, and related subjects without appreciating the long history behind these ideas. Our colleague Professor Richard Weikart supplies that background in a new video conversation from Ratio Christi:

Without this history, it might seem that current trends — the increasingly apparent and catastrophic failure to appreciate the value of human life — have simply sprung upon us out of nowhere. That is not the case. As Weikart explains, Judeo-Christian culture going back to antiquity was clear on the sanctity of life, without exception. That clarity was gradually undermined by countervailing philosophical and ideological forces, including in science, notably the rise of Darwinism.

Take a half hour and explore a vital subject with Dr. Weikart, CSC Senior Fellow, historian at California State University, Stanislaus, and the author of Hitler’s Religion, From Darwin to Hitler, and other books.