THE IMPACT OF THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION

(Adapted from The Evolution Cruncher, chapter 19)

The theory of evolution was the brainchild of a well-known author, Charles Darwin, who wrote the book Origin of the Species , which was first published in 1859. This theory has had a devastating impact on conventional theology in the 20^th century:

"Never in the history of man has so terrific a calamity befallen the race as that which all who look may now behold advancing as a deluge, black with destruction, resistless in might, uprooting our most cherished hopes, engulfing our most precious creed, and burying our highest life in mindless desolation..The flood-gates of infidelity are open, and Atheism overwhelming is upon us." -George Romanes, A Candid Examination of Theism (1878).

Romanes was a close friend of Charles Darwin but after reading his book Origin of the Species, he gave the above warning to Darwin (The Evolution Cruncher. p. 798).

The idea among atheists is that man is an accident (a product of random chance or a product of evolution from apes) and not a product of divine creation in the image of God:

"An atheist is a man who believes himself an accident." -Francis Thompson, quoted in Peter’s Book of Quotations (1977), p. 449.

With God being erased from the minds of men and women, there are no norms, no standards, no absolutes to live up to. When God is erased, man puts himself on the throne in the place of God. In otherwords, man makes himself into a god – in the place of God our Creator. Men worship other men as idols – such as Charles Darwin is practically worshipped as a "god" in scientific circles:

"It is a religion of science that Darwinism chiefly held, and holds over men’s minds."

-Encounter, November 1959, p. 48

"Just as pre-Darwinian biology was carried out by people whose faith was in the Creator and His plan, post-Darwinian biology is being carried out by people whose faith is in, almost, the deity of Darwin. They’ve seen their task as to elaborate his theory and to fill the gaps in it, to fill the trunk and twigs of the tree. But it seems to me that the theoretical framework has very little impact on the actual progress of the work in biological research. In a way some aspects of Darwinism and of neo-Darwinism seem to me to have held back the progress of science." -Colin Patterson, The Listener (senior paleontologist, British Museum of Natural History, London).

Surprisingly enough, we are never told the entire title: On the Origin of the Species by Means of Natural Selection or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life (Evolution Cruncher, p. 26). The implications of this title are immense and far-reaching: the book focuses on the "survival of the fittest" and "natural selection" . Such a focus has been dangerous to modern morality and civilization in general. The evidence of this dark legacy can be found in the bloody history of the 20^th century.

Even secular authors and scientists can attest to the moral desolation resulting from this theory:

"Darwinism helped to further brutalize mankind through providing scientific sanction for bloodthirsty and selfish desires." -Robert T. Clark and James D. Bales, Why Scientists Accept Evolution (1966), p. 64

"In turn, biological evolutionism exerted ever-widening influences on the natural and social sciences, and its repercussions were neither sound nor commendable. Suffice it to mention the so-called Social Darwinism, which often sought to justify the inhumanity to man to man, and the biological racism which furnished a fraudulent scientific sanction for the atrocities committed in Hitler’s Germany and elsewhere." -Theodosius Dobzhansky,

"Evolution at Work,", Science, Vol. 127, May 9, 1958, p. 1091

"Few people who accept the Darwinian theory of evolution realize its far-reaching import especially in Social Science…Of the many evils that have resulted from the teaching of evolution, we mention only a few." Professor Holmes, Science (August 14, 1939), p. 117

"Mankind struggles upwards, in which millions are trampled to death, that thousands may mount on their bodies." -Clara Lucas Balfour (1808-1878), quoted in Asimov’s Book of Science and Nature Quotations, p. 88 [chapter on "Evolution"].

"Our own generation has lived to see the inevitable result of evolutionary teaching-the result Sedgwick foresaw as soon as he had read the Origin. Mussolini’s attitude was completely dominated by evolution. In public utterances, he repeatedly used the Darwinian catchwords while he mocked at perpetual peace, lest it hinder the evolutionary process. In Germany, it was the same. Adolf Hitler’s mind was captivated by evolutionary teaching-probably since the time he was a boy. Evolutionary ideas quite undisguised-lie at the basis of all that is the worst in Mein Kamp and his public speeches." -R.E.D. Clark, Darwin: Before and After (1948), p. 115

Just as shocking as the above testimony, Darwin’s beliefs about the poor and needy are summarized in a quotation by Clark in the same book:

"Darwin often said quite plainly that it was wrong to ameliorate the conditions of the poor, since to do so would hinder the evolutionary struggle for existence" (ibid., p. 115).

From the above testimony from historians and scientists, the theory of evolution has not been beneficial to society after its publication. Its results have been only negative. The theory has given all those who believe in it an excuse for any kind of behavior they choose to exhibit. From the more subtle evil of individual self-righteousness, to Marxism and Communism, to violent warfare and dictatorship, no theory in history has done more to erase the fear of God from men’s minds in such as universal a scale as has evolutionary theory.

Written by Robert Sterbenc