Stephen E. Jones

Creation/Evolution Quotes: Religion #4: Evolution and Christianity

[Quotes] [Religion, #1, #2, #3, #5]

Religion #4: Evolution and Christianity

1. Evolution responsible for the decline of Christianity
• "the decline of Christianity, is largely due to the influence of Darwin"
• "As far as Christianity was concerned, the advent of the theory of evolution ... was catastrophic"
2. Evolution needs to destroy the Christian doctrine of creation
• Biology textbooks usually contain an attack on the Christian doctrine of creation
• The modern theory of evolution is unfairly compared with a 19th century theory of "special creation"
• A strawman of "the biblical account of creation" is often attacked
• A strawman of "the Book of Genesis" is often attacked

Religion #4: Evolution and Christianity

1. Evolution responsible for the decline of Christianity
• "the decline of Christianity, is largely due to the influence of Darwin"

"Sir Arthur Keith said that Darwin himself had done more than anyone to lift 'the pall of superstition' from mankind and, in another place, that Darwinism is a 'basal doctrine in the rationalist liturgy.' These remarks suggest that in his opinion the decline of belief in the supernatural, and probably the decline of Christianity, is largely due to the influence of Darwin. I think there is much to be said for this view....Although the Origin contains no direct attack on the Christian concept of the universe, it is, on a number of crucial points opposed to this concept. The biblical account of the creation of living things can be, and often has been, interpreted in a manner more or less compatible with the doctrine of evolution. Propagandists like T. H. Huxley, however, made every effort to minimize this possibility, and to prove that Christian orthodoxy implies a literal interpretation of Genesis which is irreconcilable with the evolutionary idea. Darwin himself though he once held some rather vaguely Christian views, abandoned them quite rapidly and soon ceased to believe in the Christian revelation." (Thompson W.R.*, "Introduction," in Darwin C.R., "The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection," [1872], Everyman's Library, J.M. Dent & Sons: London, 6th Edition, 1967, reprint, pp.xxii-xxiii). [top]

• "As far as Christianity was concerned, the advent of the theory of evolution ... was catastrophic"

"As far as Christianity was concerned, the advent of the theory of evolution and the elimination of traditional teleological thinking was catastrophic. The suggestion that life and man are the result of chance is incompatible with the biblical assertion of their being the direct result of intelligent creative activity. Despite the attempt by liberal theology to disguise the point, the fact is that no biblically derived religion can really be compromised with the fundamental assertion of Darwinian theory. Chance and design are antithetical concepts, and the decline in religious belief can probably be attributed more to the propagation and advocacy by the intellectual and scientific community of the Darwinian version of evolution than to any other single factor." (Denton M.J., "Evolution: A Theory in Crisis," Burnett: London, 1985, p.66) [top]

2. Evolution needs to destroy the Christian doctrine of creation
• Biology textbooks usually contain an attack on the Christian doctrine of creation
• The modern theory of evolution is unfairly compared with a 19th century theory of "special creation"

"At the time of Darwin's historic voyage, most scientists-and nonscientists as well-still believed in the theory of "special creation." According to this idea, the many different kinds of living organisms were each created (or otherwise came into existence) in their present form. ... If each kind of plant and animal had been created separately and was unchangeable as was then generally believed, why did the plants and animals of the Galapagos not resemble those of Africa, for example, rather than those of South America? Or indeed, why were they not utterly unique, unlike organisms anywhere else on Earth? ... If the Galapagos tortoises had been specially created, why did they not all look alike?" (Raven P.H., Evert R.F. & Eichhorn S.E., "Biology of Plants," [1971], W.H. Freeman & Co/Worth: New York NY, Sixth Edition, 1999, p.236) [top]

• A strawman of "the biblical account of creation" is often attacked

"Charles Darwin was only twenty-two in 1831 when he accepted the position of naturalist aboard the British naval ship H.M.S. Beagle that was going to sail around the world ... The captain was hopeful that Darwin would find evidence of the biblical account of creation. However, the results of Darwin's observations were just the opposite, as you can tell by examining table 19.1. ...

Table 19.1 Concepts Contrasted

Pre-Darwinian Concepts	Post-Darwinian Concepts
Earth is relatively young-	Earth is relatively old-age is
age was measured in		now measured in billions of
thousands of years		years

Fixity of species-organisms	Organic evolution-organisms
do not change and the		change and several new
number of species has		species can arise from a single
remained the same		ancestor

A creator previously decided	Adaptation to environment
the structure and function of	explains structure and function
each type of organism		of each type of organism

Observation and		Observation and
experimentation are		experimentation are used to
unnecessary to substantiate	substantiate theories of
self-evident truth		evolution" 

(Mader S.S., "Biology," [1985], Wm. C. Brown Co: Dubuque IA, Third Edition, 1990, pp.281-282) [top]

• A strawman of "the Book of Genesis" is often attacked

"Until only two hundred years ago, it seemed self-evident that the world and the animals that fill it have not changed: robins look like robins and mice like mice year after year, generation after generation, at least within due short period of written history. This commonsense view is very like our untutored impression that the earth stands still and is circled by the sun, moon, planets, and stars: it accords well with day-to-day experience, and until evidence to the contrary appeared, it provided a satisfying picture of the living world. The idea of an unchanging world also corresponded to a literal reading of the powerfully poetic opening of the Book of Genesis, in which God is said to have created each species independently, simultaneously, and relatively recently-a little over six thousand years ago by reckonings based on Scripture." (Keeton W.T., Gould J.L. & Gould C.G., "Biological Science," [1967], W.W. Norton & Co: New York, Fourth Edition, 1986, p.12) [top]

* Authors with an asterisk against their name are believed not to be evolutionists.