By: Chuck Nelson*

Have you ever wondered why the concepts of creation or intelligent design are considered such a threat to the public education system? 

Why does the mere suggestion that the scientific case for creation or intelligent design be presented along with evolution in the public school classroom bring forth a vociferous gaggle of individuals and well-funded organizations with attorneys in tow to defend the evolution-only monopoly in the classroom?  What’s so threatening about a balanced science curriculum and why is it necessary to "circle the wagons" in order to defend evolution whenever a non-evolutionary thought arises?

The answer is relatively simple if you look at the issue from the perspective of the evolution-only crowd.  The presentation of any evidence contradictory to evolution or supporting creation/design is an attack on the intellectual and philosophical underpinnings of the naturalistic/materialistic worldview. 

The geneticist Richard Lewontin, an outspoken proponent of evolution and adversary of creation/design, illustrated this point rather well.

"Our willingness to accept scientific claims that are against common sense is the key to an understanding of the real struggle between science and the supernatural. We take the side of science in spite of the patent absurdity of some of its constructs, in spite of its failure to fulfill many of its extravagant promises of health and life, in spite of the tolerance of the scientific community for unsubstantiated just-so stories, because we have a prior commitment, a commitment to materialism. It is not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us to accept a material explanation of the phenomenal world, but, on the contrary, that we are forced by our a priori adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that produce material explanations, no matter how counterintuitive, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated. Moreover, that materialism is absolute, for we cannot allow a Divine Foot in the door."¹

The reason modern liberal academia "cannot allow a divine foot in the door" is because, just as darkness cannot exist in the presence of light, philosophical materialism, naturalism and evolutionism cannot exist in the presence of a Creator.  Any evidence in support of creation/design is evidence against evolution and tends to undermine or invalidate the materialistic or naturalistic worldview of the evolution-only crowd.  They must fight it or restructure their worldview to accommodate a God who is actually relevant in the physical universe…something most are not willing to do. 

For a number of years the naturalistic or materialistic philosophy has been imposed on the public education science curriculum.  There is no way this philosophical monopoly can be maintained if students are presented all of the facts and allowed to decide for themselves.

Evolution, as presented in the public education system, is a lot like a capsule containing medicine.  It’s firm on the outside but soft on the inside.  Evolution is presented as rigid fact and students are expected to swallow it whole. 

If students are given all the facts and allowed to "chew" on them the soft inside of evolutionism comes apart and they won’t be likely to swallow it or the naturalistic/materialistic philosophy on which it rests.  No wonder the evolution-only crowd finds creation/design such a bitter pill to swallow.  If swallowed it cures all forms of naturalism, materialism and evolutionism. 

REFERENCES

1.  "Billions and Billions of Demons" New York Review of Books, January 9, 1997, p. 28.

*Chuck Nelson, Christian creationist and former FBI agent and retired law enforcement officer, contributes regularly to Creation Digest.

11/19/01