(This post is a follow-up to an earlier post titled Darwin Week at BYU in 2009)

Over two thousand years ago Korihor taught that there was no God. Because there was no Supreme Being, he argued, there was no crime, no sin, no accountability to a higher power, and no eternal consequences for our actions. He also taught that everyone fared according to the impartial laws of nature and that there was no need for people to work out their salvation before the Lord.

In our time there has been a resurgence of this same atheistic doctrine. Atheism has found favor among those wanting to unburden themselves of their moral responsibility to the Lord. It has also found favor among people wanting to confirm their godless biases about the physical world. Atheism's far-reaching influence is being driven by the internet and bestselling books, and is spreading into our political, educational, and governmental institutions. 

Unwittingly Darwinism has fueled this atheistic surge.

Strictly speaking, evolution is a scientific idea about the origin of species; as such it has nothing to do with religion. However, because evolution is an explanation about the origins of life, it makes assumptions that extend beyond science into the religious domain. One of these assumptions is that living things, including humans, arose through blind and undirected natural processes. Atheists are using this feature of evolution to fuel the atheistic surge that is taking place. They point out that because Darwinism has given us a completely natural explanation for the origin of species, it is no longer necessary to believe in divine creation. We see evidence of atheists using Darwinism to argue against the existence of God in statements like: “Darwin made it possible to be an intellectually fulfilled atheist;”[1] “If evolution is true, then none of the things that deeply religious people want to be true are in fact true;”[2] and “If humankind evolved by Darwinian natural selection, genetic chance and environmental necessity, not God, made the species.”[3]

For a real-life example of the effects of evolution’s allure of disbelief, we need not look any further than Charles Darwin himself. Darwin is to be admired for being a compassionate, dedicated father, and a gifted naturalist and physician who once embraced traditional Christian teachings on the creation. What many people don't realize is that the more he developed his theory on the origin of species, the more he accepted that there was no need to accept divine creation. Consequently his religious beliefs waned. As we shall see below, evolution opened the gate to the path of disbelief and he stepped through.

Here’s a closer look at Darwin’s digression from belief in divine creation to belief in godless evolution. The following statements are taken from the Life and Letters of Charles Darwin[4], a collection of quotes from Darwin’s life.

                                      Darwin was once a believer

I did not then in the least doubt the strict and literal truth of every word in the Bible, I soon persuaded myself that our Creed must be fully accepted. (p. 45)

Whilst on board the Beagle I was quite orthodox, and I remember being heartily laughed at by several of the officers (though themselves orthodox) for quoting the Bible as an unanswerable authority on some point of morality. (p. 307-308)

Formerly I was led by feelings . . . (although I do not think that the religious sentiment was ever strongly developed in me), to the firm conviction of the existence of God, and of the immortality of the soul. In my Journal I wrote that whilst standing in the midst of the grandeur of a Brazilian forest, “it is not possible to give an adequate idea of the higher feelings of wonder, admiration, and devotion, which fill and elevate the mind.” I well remember my conviction that there is more in man than the mere breath of his body. (p. 311)

                 Evolution’s allure of disbelief gradually diminished his faith

The old argument from design in Nature . . . which formerly seemed to me so conclusive, fails, now that the law of natural selection has been discovered. We can no longer argue that, for instance, the beautiful hinge of a bivalve shell must have been made by an intelligent being, like the hinge of a door by man. There seems to be no more design in the variability of organic beings, and in the action of natural selection, than in the course which the wind blows. (p. 309)

[T]he presence of much suffering agrees well with the view that all organic beings have been developed through variation and natural selection. (p. 311)

[Once] I deserved to be called a Theist. This conclusion was strong in my mind about the time, as far as I can remember, when I wrote the ‘Origin of Species’; and it is since that time that it has very gradually, with many fluctuations, become weaker. (p. 313).

I gradually came to disbelieve in Christianity as a divine revelation. . . . Thus disbelief crept over me at a very slow rate, but was at last complete. The rate was so slow that I felt no distress. (p. 308–309)

Perhaps nowhere is this same allure more evident than in our schools. In many high schools, colleges, and universities evolution is taught as though it has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Thus in the minds of many evolution is as certain as the law of gravity. It is celebrated as the grand unifying theory of biology and the only way to make sense of life on earth. With all this hype it is no surprise that Darwinism is displacing Deity as the only explanation for the origins of species. Ezra Taft Benson hinted at evolution’s allure of disbelief in higher education when He said, “Students at universities are sometimes so filled with the doctrines of the world they begin to question the doctrines of the [Lord’s] gospel.”[5]

In many biology classrooms students are urged to accept all of evolution because it has been “proven beyond a reasonable doubt.” If the best biological scientists say that their ancestors were hominids, then it must be so. Not wanting to appear unscholarly or unscientific, some Christian students end up abandoning their religious views of the creation and put their complete trust in Darwinism. They eventually become devout evolutionary disciples themselves and end up defending Darwinism with evangelical fervor.

Lehi’s dream is an appropriate description of the pressure to accept evolution. In Lehi’s dream, when the mist of darkness arose, some people let go of the iron rod, wandered off and became lost. In much the same way, when surrounded by the falsehoods within Darwinism, some people let go of the word of God and accept scientific ideas that deviate from revealed doctrine. There were others in Lehi’s dream that reached the Tree of Life but wandered off when they were laughed at and scorned by people in the great and spacious building representing the vain imaginations of the world. In much the same way, people who fear being scorned by the scientific establishment for not accepting all of Darwin’s ideas may end up altering or abandoning altogether their beliefs in certain gospel doctrines. For these people, being accepted by scientific peers takes precedence over holding fast to revealed teachings on the Creation.    

If evolution is a potential breeding ground for disbelief, then what should be done? First of all, there is no need to overreact by discouraging children from studying evolution in school. Darwin’s ideas contain truths that are very useful in fields such as medicine and agriculture. It is important to note that all aspects of evolution do not need to be proven true before being taught in schools. If all aspects of scientific theories needed to be proven true before being taught in classrooms, there would be little left to teach. Science is a gradual process of filtering out untruths and replacing them with ideas that more accurately represent reality. Like most other theories, Darwinism contains a mixture of truths and untruths. This should not prevent it from taking its rightful place in the scientific curriculum.

A more reasonable approach to dealing with falsehoods in Darwinism is found in Section 91 of the Doctrine and Covenants. In 1833, while at Kirtland, Ohio, the Prophet Joseph Smith was working on an inspired translation of the Old Testament. When he came to the Apocrypha, a collection of ancient writings included in the Protestant Bible during Joseph’s time,[6] he asked the Lord whether it should be translated along with the rest of the Bible.

The Lord replied that in the Apocrypha, “There are many things contained therein that are true,” but also that “There are many things contained therein that are not true.” The Lord did not tell Joseph Smith and the saints to avoid the Apocrypha because of the untruths it contained. Rather he counseled that “whoso readeth it, let him understand, for the Spirit manifesteth truth; and whoso is enlightened by the Spirit shall obtain benefit therefrom.” In other words, Latter-day Saints who read and study the Apocrypha within the light of the Spirit will be able to identify and benefit from the truths it contains, and avoid becoming ensnared by falsehoods. 

As with the Apocrypha, the key to avoiding untruths in Darwinism is to study it within the light of the Spirit. A study of Darwinism should be supplemented with a thoughtful study of gospel creation principles. These principles can be found in the scriptures and other literary sources such as Church manuals and books by general authorities. Elder Ezra Taft Benson mentioned one such resource in a general conference address. Speaking to parents, he advised, “If your children are taught untruths on evolution in the public schools or even in our Church schools, provide them with a copy of President Joseph Fielding Smith’s excellent rebuttal in his book Man, His Origin and Destiny.”[7]

The Spirit of Truth empowers people with the ability to discern between truths and falsehoods when studying the theories of man. This principle is found in the scripture which reminds us that to be learned is good if we hearken unto the counsels of God (2 Nephi 9:29). Hearkening unto the counsels of God brings the blessings of the Spirit which enhances our ability to recognize truth and avoid falsehoods. On the Mount of Olives, the Savior promised that “whoso treasureth up my word, shall not be deceived” (JST—Matthew 1:37). This promise is as true today as it was some 2000 years ago.

Theistic evolutionists (i.e., those who believe that God used evolution to create humankind) may vigorously oppose the views expressed in this post. They may argue that it is unfair to create a dichotomy between evolution and the gospel. There is no need to view one as true and the other as false, they claim. Both can be true.

In the next blog we’ll analyze the claim that both evolution and the gospel can be true and that they are reconcilable. As we shall see, there is no reliable path to reconciliation. Each belief system holds tenets that directly oppose tenets in the other. True reconciliation would require major concessions to either one or the other, thus leaving neither fully intact.       
 
                                                        Citations

[1] Richard Dawkins, The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1996), 10.
[2] William Provine, in Russell Stannard, Science and Wonders: Conversations about Science and Belief (Boston: Faber & Faber, 1998), 45.
[3] Edward O. Wilson, On Human Nature (Boston: Harvard University Press, 2004), 1.
[4] The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, Including an Autobiographical Chapter (London: John Murray, 1887). Accessed 10/30/2014, http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?itemID=F1452.1&viewtype=text&pageseq=1
[5] Ezra T. Benson, Priesthood Leadership address, April 4, 1986.
[6] Richard L. Bushman, Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005), 137.
[7] Ezra Taft Benson, “Strengthening the Family,” General Conference, October 1970.


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