First questions first. Notice how the Post attempts to diminish the question regarding evolution by asking if schools should teach it as a “mere” theory. Webster’s dictionary has several definitions of the word theory. Theory basically defined is: “the analysis of a set of facts in their relation to one another” Webster’s fifth definition is better in the arena in which we are talking, “a plausible or scientifically acceptable general principle or body of principles offered to explain phenomena”. However, the creationism/evolution debate really centers around Webster’s sixth definition of theory: “a hypothesis assumed for the sake of argument or investigation b : an unproved assumption : conjecture c : a body of theorems presenting a concise systematic view of a subject.”
Dr. Dawkins begins his response with the usual liberal evolutionist response to Christians who believe in creation with name calling and attacking the intellectual abilities of the person being denigrated, in this case Governor Perry. Dr. Dawkins who is English then tries to tell us uneducated creation believing Americans why the party of Lincoln and Roosevelt has forfeited the right to be called the ‘GOP’, as the “Grand old Party” is now routinely called. Has Dr. Dawkins ever read anything by Lincoln who routinely called on the God of the universe, the God of the Bible and therefore the God of Creation? I doubt not.
Mr. Dawkins says “Intellect, knowledge and linguistic mastery are mistrusted by Republican voters, who, when choosing a president, would apparently prefer someone like themselves over someone actually qualified for the job.” I believe that Dr. Dawkins is saying that more than 60% of this nation, according to Gallup, that does not believe in evolution are not very smart, to paraphrase the good Dr.’s previous statement. America was founded as a Christian nation and no amount of liberal non-Christian, evolutionist revisionism can change that. One has only to do a little homework to find out that according to the United States Supreme Court's 1892 decision in The Church of the Holy Trinity vs. United States, that stated America was a Christian nation from its earliest days. This statement was reaffirmed by U.S Supreme Court Justice George Sutherland in 1931 in reviewing the 1892 decision. In 1952, liberal Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas declared ‘we are a religious people and our institutions presuppose a Supreme Being.” (1)
It is obvious that Dr. Dawkins either has no knowledge of American history and our Christian heritage or he is choosing to be intellectually dishonest while delivering his attacks against Governor Perry specifically and Christian Americans in general.
On to the second question posed by the Post, “Why is evolution so threatening to religion?” I would say that the post has the question a bit backwards. I believe that the question should be Why is evolutionism so threatened by creationism? It is the evolutionists that continue to force this unproven theory down the educational throats of every level of our education system, from Kindergarten through any level of higher learning you choose. Yes I said unproven…Dr. Dawkins in his article loudly proclaims that “Evolution is a fact, as securely established as any science, and he who denies it betrays woeful ignorance and lack of education”. Dr. Dawkins offers no proof of his statement other than to expound on Darwin and how it is a powerful scientific theory. Quoting Darwin is not proof, and without proof there is no fact just theory.
Dr. Dawkins avoids noted thinkers and philosophers like fellow Englishman Anthony Flew who for many years was one of the foremost Atheist philosophers in the world. Quoting from the inside flap of his book There is A God “Flew earned his fame by arguing that one should presuppose atheism until evidence of God surfaces. He now believes that such evidence exists.” Anthony Flew in his book says in the preface “Neither do any of these writers present a plausible worldview that accounts for the existence of a ‘law-abiding’, life-supporting, and rationally accessible universe.” (2)
In fact, Dr. Dawkins and other evolutionists believe in the “Law of Chance”, given enough time that anything could happen. Mathematician and Astronomer Sir Fred Hoyle who is not known to be a creationist but is a scientist said that for life to form from non-life would be mathematically impossible. In fact, since Dr. Dawkins is so fond of facts, it is a scientific fact that life only comes from life, not from non-life. So, since evolution theory rests so heavily on the non-fact of Abiogenesis (life from non-life) how can Dr. Dawkins claim that evolution is a fact based science. Just like creation, evolution is a theory based science and should be taught as such.
It is evolution that is afraid; it is evolution that can’t defend its beliefs with plausible theories. Creation theory is based on the known facts of the scientific world and how they are supported by the Bible from Genesis on. Evolution is not a scientific fact just because evolutionists like Dr. Dawkins says it is. If evolutionists truly believed in their “facts” then why are they so afraid to have evolution and creation taught side by side? Why are they reduced to attacking everything that goes against their theories? Is it because America’s founding fathers and a majority of Americans today believe in the God of the Bible and therefore the God of Creation?
In closing, I would like to make two observations. Belief in the God of the Bible and Creation gave the world the United States of America, arguably the freest society that the world has ever seen. Belief in Darwin’s evolution has produced some of the most deadly and destructive governments that have ever existed in the world. Dr. Dawkins touts Darwinism as the be all to end all for evolution and the world through Darwin’s “natural selection”. One has only to look at the atrocities of Hitler’s Nazi Germany to see how Darwin’s theory of natural selection was used to justify the killing of millions of “inferior species of humans”. In his book From Darwin to Hitler author Richard Weikart traces the link between Darwinism and the descent of the morality of man which led to the Nazi thought of a superior race and lesser races of humans which deserved to be destroyed.
Now some may say that this is not what we are talking about. However, at its basest level this has to be a part of the conversation as evidenced by the thoughts of Adam Sedgwick who was Darwin’s former mentor in natural science at the University of Cambridge. Weikart quotes from a letter written by Sedgwick to Darwin shortly after reading Darwin’s book On the Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life
“There is a moral or metaphysical part of nature as well as a physical. A man who denies this is deep in the mire of folly. Tis the crown and glory of organic science that it does, thro’ final cause, link material to moral;…You have ignored this link; and, if I do not mistake your meaning, you have done your best in one or two pregnant cases to break it. Were it possible (which thank God, it is not) to break it, humanity, in my mind, would suffer a damage that might brutalize it, and sink the human race into a lower grade of degradation than into which it has fallen since its written records tell us of its history.(3)
Dr. Dawkins' evolution teaches that there is no Supreme authority over the world and that man is as high as it gets. It is this belief that has led to the decline of ethics and morality that Adam Sedgwick was writing about to Darwin. The Creation theory teaches that there was a creator and it is He that has laid down the rules of science and morality. Which is better? Just look at the facts, not what someone says are the facts, but the real facts and you will see why more than 60% of this nation does not believe in evolution. Additionally, why is it that creation deniers/evolutionist supporters have to force feed the teaching of evolution to the masses by whatever means possible whether education, written materials, movies or television shows. False theories are always harder to teach than the truth.
*NOTES*
(2) There is A God Anthony Flew preface page XVII
(3) From Darwin to Hitler Richard Weikart Introduction page 1
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