Jon Noyes explains how Darwinism impacts every area of our lives when it’s allowed to become an ideology.
Transcript
Darwinism is not just a scientific theory. Darwinism is an ideology. Darwinian evolution—the idea that all species arise and develop through natural selection and random mutation—has become more than just a scientific theory. It’s not a theory like Newton’s gravity or Kepler’s planetary motion. We have Darwinism and not Keplerism. We have Darwinists but not Newtonists. So, Darwinism is the basis for an ideology, and it leads to scientism. It permeates or influences everything that we do.
Daniel Dennett, a philosopher at Tufts University (who looks like the atheist Santa Claus), is one of the atheist Four Horsemen. He says evolution is like a universal acid. It eats through just about every traditional concept and leaves in its wake a revolutionized worldview, with most of the traditional old landmarks still recognizable but transformed in fundamental ways. You see, this is about more than just biology. Evolutionary theory has its effect on every area of life. Even in my legal studies, there’s a book called Evolutionary Theory and Legal Philosophy. How about in medicine? Another book that I own is Why We Get Sick: The New Science of Darwinian Medicine. Criminology, which was my major at American University, has the book Evolutionary Criminology: Towards a Comprehensive Explanation of Crime.
This theory that isn’t just a scientific theory, it’s not just touching on evolution. It’s bleeding into every area of life. It’s like a universal acid, and it even affects religion. There’s a book out there called Religion Explains the Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought, taking a strictly scientific perspective—an evolutionary perspective—and seeking to understand why people believe the way they do, according to religion. This is a worldview issue, guys. It’s a narrative about reality and reality’s most important issues. This is what Darwinism is seeking to explain. This is what leads you into naturalism. I think it’s important.
Victor Stenger, an atheist, says Darwinism implies that humanity developed by accident, contradicting the traditional teachings that humans are special, created in God’s image. So, also, this is a theory, this is an ideology, and this is a worldview that’s in direct conflict with the Christian worldview. The question is, is it true? Are we accidental byproducts of blind forces of nature? Are we the pinnacle of God’s creation intended by a creator God with meaning and purpose and value and a destiny? These are the most important questions that we can ask ourselves, and our worldview informs and answers these questions. Are we designed, or are we just a random quantification of particles bumping into each other?