Charles Darwin and the Modern Mind

Today marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of both Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln.  Both men shaped history, but it is Charles Darwin who presents us with the most significant intellectual challenge. The Darwinist account of the cosmos and the living organisms found within represents a straightforward rejection of the role of the Creator as revealed in the Bible.

Therefore, as a means of taking note of the continuing influence of Darwin, I offer here a list of annotated links from my past writings and radio programs — all related to Darwin or Darwinian evolution.

A Glorious Hymn to Darwin? Scientific American and Secular Hero Worship
Scientific American has published a review of several new books on Charles Darwin and Darwinism in its latest issue. The review is by Jonathan Weiner, author of The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time. Weiner’s review will get your attention, mostly because of its over-the-top adulation of Darwin.

Apologize to Charles Darwin?
A senior cleric of the Church of England wants his church to apologize to Charles Darwin in time for the observance of the 200th anniversary of Darwin’s birth next year.  The Rev. Dr. Malcolm Brown, Director of Mission and Public Affairs for the church, made his case in an article entitled, “Good Religion Needs Good Science,” published in a special new section of the Church of England’s official Web site.

Two Irreconcilable Worldviews: Evolution and Christianity
Efforts to reconcile Christianity and evolutionary theory abound, even as evolutionists bemoan the fact that such a large percentage of Americans simply will not accept a naturalistic understanding of cosmic and human origins.

“A Knight of the Mind” — Dawkins, Darwin, and the Battle of Worldviews
The Times [London] is out with an article headline that reads, “Dawkins Slaps Creationists into the Primordial Soup.”  Now that grabs your attention. Dawkins, pleased to be known as “Darwin’s Rotweiller,” has been given a new three-part television series in Britain, known as “Dawkins on Darwin.” The British press is fawning in its applause, and Dawkins appears to be in rare form.

The Ten Most Harmful Books of the Last Two Centuries
Human Events asked “a panel of 15 conservative scholars and public policy leaders” to identify the ten most harmful books of the 19th and 20th centuries. It’s hard to argue with their list, but it seems a bit weighted toward economics. I would argue for putting The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin in the top ten, and Coming of Age in Samoa by Margaret Mead wouldn’t be far behind. Any suggestions?

We Are Not Alone — Orthodox Judaism and Evolution
Conservative Christians are often lampooned as the last hold-outs against the supposedly invincible theory of evolution. This is untrue on several counts. First, surveys consistently demonstrate that the vast majority of Americans reject Darwinian evolution as the explanation of human origins. Second, with specific reference to major religious groups, Orthodox Judaism is also steadfastly opposed to evolutionary theory.

The Mudslinging of the Elites
The media swarming about the controversy over evolution, Intelligent Design, and creationism are losing their cool, and showing their true colors in the process. In today’s commentary, I take a close look at the panic evident in the latest issue of The New Republic. Hendrick Hertzberg’s “The Talk of the Town,” column in the current edition of The New Yorker may even exceed the TNR articles in terms of anxiety. More than that, it demonstrates an antimosity toward conservative Christianity that is absolutely bracing.

Intelligent Design in the News Again
Yesterday, President George W. Bush told a group of Texas journalists that he supports the teaching of Intelligent Design in the public schools. “I think that part of education is to expose people to different schools of thought,” the President said. “You’re asking me whether or not people ought to be exposed to different ideas, the answer is yes.”

Don’t Trust a Theory You Cannot Sing
The theory of evolution, inevitably expanded into a worldview, must explain everything, if it explains anything. Rightly understood, evolutionary theory attempts to explain virtually all dimensions of reality. As evolutionists like Daniel Dennett explain, the theory becomes a “universal acid” that burns away all other explanations. Can evolutionary theory explain the existence of music among humans? Charles Darwin argued that music is rooted in the courtship rituals males develop toward females. In other words, he argued that music is directly tied to the sex drive and the need to procreate.

NPR Forum on “Evolution and Religious Faith”
The Christian doctrine of creation sets the stage for a comprehensive Christian view of life and human dignity. Without the doctrine of creation, Christianity is only one more artifact of an evolutionary process. The Christian affirmation represents the most significant intellectual challenge to evolutionary naturalism.

Why Darwinism Survives
“What is it about even the slightest dissent from Darwin’s theory of natural selection that drives liberal elites (and even some conservative elites) bonkers?” Adam Wolfson asks that question in “Survival of the Evolution Debate: Why Darwin Is Still a Lightning Rod,” an essay published in the January 16, 2006 edition of The Weekly Standard.

The Devil’s Chaplain: Richard Dawkins on Christianity
Richard Dawkins wants to be the devil’s chaplain. As the world’s most visible and articulate atheist, Dawkins declared war on religious belief many years ago. In his latest salvo, he leaves no doubt about his antipathy towards all forms of theistic belief.

Darwin’s Dangerous Idea-No Middle Ground
Daniel C. Dennett is one of the world’s most influential evolutionary scientists, and unlike many of his colleagues, Dennett doesn’t run away from Darwinism’s logical conclusions. Instead, he describes Darwin’s theory of evolution as a “universal acid” that completely reshapes reality, destroying those truths previously held to be enduring and unchanging.

Intelligent Design–A “Plot” to Kill Evolution?
Intelligent Design is in the news again, this time in the form of a cover story in the October 2004 issue of Wired magazine. The magazine’s cover announces “The Plot to Kill Evolution: Inside the Crusade to Bring Creationism 2.0 to America’s Classrooms.”

Evolutionists to the Barricades: Is the Theory in Trouble?
Panic is setting in among the Darwinists. Even as diverse forms of Darwinist theory have become the enforced orthodoxy of naturalistic science, the fragile house of evolution is in big trouble–and the Darwinists know it.

Chaos in the Academy
The world of higher education is a prime context for shaping the next generation, and a look at developments on America’s elite campuses reveals a social revolution in the making. In moral terms, we are looking at chaos in the academy.

Is God an Accident of Evolution? The Next Step in Evolutionary Theory
For the last two centuries or so, the intellectual elites have been predicting the triumph of secularization over belief in God. Thinkers ranging from Auguste Comte to Sigmund Freud and Karl Marx predicted that belief in God would evaporate as human beings gained control over the forces of nature–harnessing the power of steam in great engines, building dams across rivers to produce power, and gaining mastery over disease and physical impairments. Similarly, the prophets of the postmodern age have promised the demise of theism, arguing that belief in a personal and transcendent deity cannot survive the acids of contemporary conceptions of reality.

FROM RADIO:

The Christian Worldview and Evolution
In the wake of “Darwin Day,” a number of influential voices in the culture are suggesting that a clear distinction between religion and science is long overdue. But can the Christian ever divorce scientific research from his or her faith? On today’s program we welcome Kurt Wise into the studio for a timely conversation about the Christian worldview and evolutionary theory.

Two Irreconcilable Worldviews
Efforts to reconcile Christianity and evolutionary theory abound, even as evolutionists bemoan the fact that such a large percentage of Americans simply will not accept a naturalistic understanding of cosmic and human origins. On today’s program, Dr. Mohler explains why there is such panic in the temple of Darwin.

Apologize to Charles Darwin?
A senior cleric of the Church of England wants his church to apologize to Charles Darwin in time for the observance of the 200th anniversary of Darwin’s birth next year. The Rev. Dr. Malcolm Brown, Director of Mission and Public Affairs for the church, made his case in an article entitled, “Good Religion Needs Good Science,” published in a special new section of the Church of England’s official Web site.