Atheism and Evolution. Part 1: A tool of war

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Atheism and Evolution. Part 1: A tool of war

Written by Dr. Geoff Downes

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It has often been said that evolution is to atheism, what creation is to Christianity. I have said so myself on occasion. The doctrines of evolution and creation are foundational to the worldviews built upon them. Atheism requires a naturalistic explanation for how we came to be. Thus a commitment to evolution will most likely lead you to an atheistic position (at least in the first generation). For many this is true. But I have come to wonder about the logic of such reasoning. How committed is atheism to evolution, really?

Over recent decades we have seen the rise (or resurrection) of militant atheists. A rise that is a response to the increasing influence that creation and intelligent design is having on mainline Christian thought, and the impacts this has had on strengthening the faith of the, true church of Christ in modern Western culture. I say "resurrection" because atheism over the past several centuries has typically been a militant faith. However, over recent decades, having captured the supposedly "intellectual high ground" they have been able to be more conservative, as it is the atheistic worldview, sold as humanism that has captured our culture and controlled our schools.

"Education is thus the most powerful ally of humanism, and every American school is a school of humanism. What can a theistic Sunday school’s meeting for an hour once a week and teaching only a fraction of the children do to stem the tide of the five-day program of humanistic teaching?"[1]

Atheistic (aka secular) humanism has used evolution as the primary tool to attack the church of Christ.[2] To give credit where credit is due, they have done this very successfully. We now live in an Australian culture where 95%[3] of children growing up in Christian homes reject the faith of their parents, giving their hearts and minds to another kingdom. Humanists control the schools in the name of (and the myth of) neutral education.[4] But evolution and the main doctrines of humanism don't necessarily fit comfortably together. Humanism advocates egalitarianism, individualism and promotes a form of morality based on a commitment to natural law[5]; the view that the common standards of behaviour we all hold to are self-evident truths that require no objective logical defence. Note that stealing, killing and raping are self-evident standards of behaviour. But if evolution is true, why? If killing or raping helps me survive or enjoy myself why not indulge in them? How does one distinguish between good and bad? History has shown that killing and torture have given pleasure to many people; just not the victims.

Consider the dominance of egalitarianism in our modern world. It's preached and presupposed ubiquitously as a truth. But how does egalitarianism fit with evolution? If evolution is true, how can all be equal? Why should they be? Why are not some more evolved than others and therefore better fitted to rule? Why are not other lesser evolved people better suited to serve or be enslaved for the good of the more evolved? If we push this line of questioning a little further we can set the evolutionist upon the horns of his theory's ethical dilemma[6]. If evolution is true, what does the concept of "goodness" have to do with anything? The theory erodes the basis for defining "good" and "evil."

In recent years, creation teaching has made great in-roads into the confidence of our humanist leaders. The rise of atheist militant preachers[7], such as Dawkins and Hitchens, is good news. It is encouraging to be a threat; we must be doing something right. The sooner we Christians in

Australia

embrace creation more fully and become worthy of more "attention" the better. But the weapon of creation teaching is not primarily to bring down evolution, and here is the point of this essay. Evolution is simply a tool used by atheists to undermine Christianity by destroying believers' (primarily children's) confidence in the authority of Scripture. While it works, all is good. When it fails, some other tool will be found. Cain was in no doubt about God’s reality; he just didn't want to submit to His authority. Neither was Lucifer for that matter.

Creation evangelism is about re-establishing the primacy of the word of God as the absolute rule for all of life for those who are "the called according to His purposes." Atheism is after all just a front for paganism; a commitment to idolatry.[8] The weakness of our churches and the consequent moral decline in our culture is not a judgement on atheists. It's a judgement on the church, "judgement starts with the household of God."

By Dr. Geoff Downes | 31 March 2009

End Notes

[1] Charles F. Potter, "Humanism: A New Religion," 1930; as cited in "Thou shalt have no other gods before God," Bret McAtee, Faith for all of life Fan/Feb 2009.

[2] Examples: Richard Dawkins, Quote 10: "No doubt soaring cathedrals, stirring music, moving stories and parables, help a bit. But by far the most important variable determining your religion is the accident of birth," viewed at http://richarddawkins.net/quotes#10. Mark Twain, Quote 60: "The so-called Christian nations are the most enlightened and progressive...but in spite of their religion, not because of it. The Church has opposed every innovation and discovery from the day of Galileo down to our own time, when the use of anesthetic in childbirth was regarded as a sin because it avoided the biblical curse pronounced against Eve. And every step in astronomy and geology ever taken has been opposed by bigotry and superstition. The Greeks surpassed us in artistic culture and in architecture five hundred years before Christian religion was born," viewed at http://richarddawkins.net/quotes#60.

[3] Sam Sterland, Ruth Powell and Keith Castle, "Figure 2: Australian Churches - Inflow and Outflow 1996 to 2001," as cited in "Inflow and Outflow Between Denominations 1991 to 2001," NCLS Occasional Paper 8, March 2006, viewed at http://www.ncls.org.au/download/doc3869/NCLS%20Occasional%20Paper%208%20-%20Inflow%20and%20Outflow%20between%20denominations.pdf.

[4] The Australian Commonwealth Government Department of Education, Science and Training state: "schools are not value-free or value-neutral zones of social and educational engagement,” as cited in preamble of the Values Education Study 2003, viewed at http://www.dest.gov.au/NR/rdonlyres/F6BA105C-4167-448B-89A3-37769A624AF8/4528/VES_Report.pdf.

[5] Johann Sommerville, "Intellectual trends in the 17th century," as cited in the University of Wisconsin-Madison History 351: Seventeenth Century Europe curriculum, viewed http://history.wisc.edu/sommerville/351/351-17.htm.

[6] When you are placed on the "horns of a dilemma" you are faced with making a choice between two positions. Each choice is equally difficult to encounter, as it will potentially undermine your position. See: http://dictionary.die.net/horns%20of%20a%20dilemma.

[7] See: http://www.conservapedia.com/Militant_atheism.

[8] Mark Horne, "Apologetics Without Apologizing," 1997, viewed at http://www.hornes.org/theologia/mark-horne/apologetics-without-apologizing-2-attacking-atheism-without-inviting-idolatry.