Assertion 6.18: Darwin was a racist.
Analysis:
(i) As far as I can tell, Darwin was indeed fairly racist. However, if this is true, it does not differentiate Darwin from mainstream society in Victorian England, which was thoroughly racist despite being almost entirely comprised of Christian creationists. It was certainly not belief in evolution that made Darwin a racist, nor was it racism that made Darwin propose the theory of evolution: he could have found plenty of support from the Christian creationist orthodoxy of the time, had he been so inclined. Therefore, I do not understand what devastating point against the truth of evolution creationists are trying to make when they accuse Darwin of racism - but, then again, creationists have often indulged in character assassination. One may certainly regret that Darwin did not stand above Victorian culture in this respect, but one can hardly blame him for absorbing the popular prejudices of the time, much less blame those popular prejudices on the idea of evolution.
(ii) Darwin's racism had limits that were not to be found of others, as shown by an incident he recounts between him and that creationist gentleman, Captain FitzRoy of the Beagle:
We had several quarrels; for when out of temper he was utterly unreasonable. For instance, early in the voyage at Bahia in Brazil he defended and praised slavery, which I abominated, and told me that he had just visited a slave-owner, who had called up many of his slaves and asked them whether they were happy, and whether they wished to be free, and all answered "No." I then asked him, perhaps with a sneer, whether he thought that the answers of slaves in the presence of their master was worth anything. This made him excessively angry, and he said that as I doubted his word, we could not live any longer together. (Darwin 1876: 73-74)
FitzRoy later apologized (for losing his temper, not for supporting slavery), and Darwin was able to continue on his epoch-making journey.
(iii) If we are to make "guilt by association" arguments with respect to racism, then modern creationism is in deep trouble, since many creationists continue to be racists to this very day, as evidenced, for instance, by http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/racism.html). Even the biblical literalism cherished by so many creationists in the West would fall to the charge of racism, with such proponents as Charles Lee, Grand Dragon of the White Kamelia Knights of the Ku Klux Klan of Texas, who declares:
My racial beliefs are based on Scriptural teachings...Without them, how could I possibly justify [white] supremacy? (as quoted in Bushart et al. 1998:40)
References
Bushart HL, Craig JR, Barnes M. 1998. Soldiers of God: White Supremacists and their Holy War for America. New York: Pinnacle.
Darwin C. 1876. The autobiography of Charles Darwin. Edited by Nora Barlow, 1958, New York: W. W. Norton.