This was why Darwin allowed for the creation of life at the very end of the first edition of his Origin of Species. He deleted this concession to Christians from later editions, after his theory had received wide acceptance from the leading theologians and scientists of the day. Croft, however, notes that this was only a matter of expedience.
Darwin’s dishonesty is apparent. He had long been an atheist and had inserted the above paragraph to lessen the tumult he knew his book would create. He no more believed in a Creator than he did in a flat earth.30
This same kind of descent — from strict creationism to progressive creationism to theistic evolutionism to atheistic evolutionism — has been the experience of countless others since Darwin. In fact, many of the most vigorous opponents of Christianity today started out as professing biblical creationist Christians, but they traveled the same downhill road of compromise that Darwin did.
We have already mentioned Michael Ruse, for example. Another prominent modern scientist who testifies to a similar experience is Dr. Edward O. Wilson of Harvard University. Professor Wilson is now one of the world’s leading entomologists and is founder and leader of the growing field of “sociobiology.” He is an ardent advocate of neo-Darwinism, in opposition to the evolutionary school of punctuated equilibrium, much like Dr. Ruse. He has written the following remarkable testimony:
As were many persons in Alabama, I was a born-again Christian. When I was fifteen I entered the Southern Baptist Church with great fervor and interest in the fundamentalist religion. I left at seventeen when I got to the University of Alabama and heard about evolutionary theory.31
Wilson is now, like Ruse, known as one of the most intransigent enemies of the Christian faith. Such testimonies could be listed in great numbers, not to mention the host of impressionable college students who have been led into compromise and eventual outright unbelief by evolutionist professors.
And what is true of once-Christian individuals is also true of many once-Christian schools and churches and other organizations. Great universities (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Brown, and many others) were founded as orthodox Christian institutions, and now are essentially schools of atheism. The mainline denominational schools (Baylor, S.M.U., Notre Dame, etc.) may not yet have totally descended into atheism, but they are definitely heading in that fatal direction, having long since abandoned belief in special creation and biblical inerrancy. Even many evangelical schools are today teaching theistic evolution. If one traces out these trends toward apostasy, he will almost always find that they started by questioning and compromising the Genesis record of recent special creation and the worldwide flood.
The same has even been true of many organizations that were founded specifically to oppose evolution and to defend the scientific integrity of Scripture. The venerable Victoria Institute of England, for example, founded in 1865, for many years was a staunch defender of the Christian faith, publishing many articles in defense of strict biblical creationism. It is still in existence today, but for many years now has been dominated by theistic evolutionism. The same is true in this country of the American Scientific Affiliation, founded in 1941. Its original members were strong creationists, but the majority refused to take a positive stand on recent creation and the worldwide flood. For many years the A.S.A. has also been dominated by theistic evolutionists.
The Religion and Science Association was started in 1935, but lasted only two years before being undermined by the progressive creationists in its membership. Similarly, the Society for the Study of Creation, the Deluge, and Related Sciences maintained a strong testimony for creation and the Flood from 1938 to 1945, when it likewise foundered as a result of the “long-age” creationists trying to usurp control from the “recent” creationists.
Nevertheless, there are two strong creationist associations in this country, both founded in 1963 and both now stronger than ever. These are the Creation Research Society and the Bible Science Association. Profiting from the sad example of the earlier creationist organizations, both the CRS and the BSA established a strong statement of faith required of all its members and publications, affirming commitment to both literal six-day creationism and the global cataclysmic deluge, as well as absolute biblical inerrancy and the deity and substitutionary atonement of Christ as unchangeable articles of faith. These two organizations have remained strong for well over 30 years precisely because of their refusal to compromise! Furthermore, well over a thousand scientists with M.S. or Ph.D. degrees have been members of CRS, contributing to its creationist research and publication activities.
In England, the Evolution Protest movement, founded in 1932, almost died out because of ongoing commitments by many members to either the day-age theory or the gap theory. In recent years, however, it has again become strong, by changing its name to the Creation Science movement and maintaining full commitment to literal creationism and the worldwide flood.
Details concerning these and other organizations are given in Henry M. Morris’s book, History of Modern Creationism.32The lesson to be learned from all these experiences and organizations is that compromise on creationism tends to lead toward either apostasy or oblivion. But a firm commitment to full biblical authority and strict creationism produces fruitful ministries, stability, and spiritual strength.
1 Jacques Monod, “The Secret of Life,” Interview with Laurie John, Australian Broadcasting Co., June 10, 1976.
2 A. J. Mattell, Jr. “Three Cheers for the Creationists,” Free Inquiry, vol. 2 (Spring 1982), p. 17.
3 Michael Ruse, “A Few Last Words — Until the Next Time,” Zygon, vol. 29 (March 1994), p. 79.
4 Michael Ruse, “A Few Last Words — Until the Next Time,” Zygon, vol. 29 (March 1994), p. 78.
5 Ibid., p. 79.
6 David L. Hull, “The God of the Galapagos,” Nature, vol. 352 (August 8, 1992), p. 486.
7 Ibid.
8 Stephen Jay Gould, “Darwin and Paley Meet the Invisible Hand,” Natural History (November 1990), p. 12.
9 Charles Darwin, “Autobiography,” reprinted in The Voyage of Charles Darwin, ed. Christopher Rawlings, 1978, New Scientist, vol. 104 (December 1984), p. 75.
10 Michael Ruse, “From Belief to Unbelief — and Halfway Back,” Zygon, vol. 29 (March 1994), p. 31.
11 Ibid., p. 33.
12 William B. Provine, “Progress in Evolution and Meaning in Life,” in Evolutionary Progress, ed., M. H. Nitecki (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1988), p. 69.