EVOLUTION V: CONCLUSION

Evolution is not a story people made up to explain the world.  It is a story people discovered about the way the world works.  It doesn’t dethrone any god.  It merely explains how the world came to be.  In other words, evolution has nothing atheistic about it.  Rather, it simply explains the mechanisms by which the world works, however that world came to be.

Those who refuse to accept the truth of evolution don’t do so because the Bible demands it.  They
refuse to accept evolution because of a series of historical accidents.  Certain sects and denominations have been saddled with an anti-evolution orthodoxy that their followers have been forced to accommodate.  They can remain obstinate only so long as they remain within the charmed circle of their own beliefs.  When and if they examine the evidence for themselves, they agree that the best explanation is an evolutionary one.

Most important, if creationism and evolutionism were really two competing scientific models, they would attract mainstream scientists to each side.  Such is the nature of science.  In the case of creationism, it has only attracted—at most—a handful of scientists with any claim to mainstream
scientific credentials.  This astonishing dearth can’t be explained away as mere prejudice on the part of evolutionists.  Consider the case of Kurt P. Wise.  Wise trained at Harvard University, under the tutelage of Stephen Jay Gould.  Though Wise reported some taunting from his evolutionist fellow students, Gould himself always respected Wise’s firm creationist beliefs.  As a convinced
evolutionist, Gould saw no need to ridicule someone like Wise.  Rather, Gould hoped Wise would study the evidence on his own, confident that any such study would demonstrate the truth of evolution.

Creationists can’t claim the same confidence.  They are constrained to assert their belief in the truth of creation, because, unlike Gould’s quiet confidence in the fact of evolution, creationists generally believe in creation by faith.  As a faith, they must cling to their belief whatever the evidence may show.  As Kurt Wise himself put it, “if all the evidence in the universe turned against
creationism, I would be the first to admit it, but I would still be a creationist because that is what the Word of God seems to indicate.”  Even the most scientifically skilled of creationists must acknowledge that their ultimate authority is beyond evidence.  They must go where orthodoxy
leads.  True science, on the other hand, follows only facts.

EVOLUTION V: CONCLUSION: FURTHER READING

John F. Ashton, ed., In Six Days: Why Fifty Scientists Choose to Believe in Creation (Master Books, 2001).