The Darwin Anniversary
by Carl Wieland
Published: 24 November 2009(GMT+10)
Today, November 24, it is exactly 150 years since Charles Darwin published his On
the Origin of Species.
The world has been gearing up for this “second echelon” of celebrations
for this international “Year of Darwin”, following on from the 200th
anniversary of his birth this last February. Atheists and humanist groups in particular
have seemed to be relishing the thought of giving further prominence to the ideas
of their patron saint. Their adulation is heightened by their knowledge that, despite
the protestations of various prominent “theistic evolutionists”, evolution
(in the sense of molecules to man) directly undermines the core of the Christian
gospel.
So how is CMI to respond to today’s date?
Our books, DVDs, and web articles are already full of items and articles demonstrating
the massive damage to faith that the evolutionary belief system causes, showing
that Genesis is real history. And many of the more than 7,000 articles on creation.com
already deal with providing sound scientific answers to evolutionary arguments,
showing that the “facts” actually make more scientific sense overall
within a biblical framework.
In response to the year of Darwin itself, we have been publishing (in some instances
republishing) a string of articles on “all things Darwin”—under
the weekly heading “Deconstructing Darwin”, separate from the day’s
feature front-page web article.
The list with links is presented here, but scroll down past this for the moment,
if you will, to see what else we propose to feature on this anniversary date.
“Deconstructing Darwin” articles
(Grouped by subject—many featured on the front page during 2009)
Introductory
What is there to celebrate about Darwin’s 200th birthday?
Look beneath the hoo-ha and what do you find?
Deconstructing
Darwin—full steam ahead!
CMI’s Deconstructing Darwin meetings are having an impact.
Social consequences of Darwinism
Darwin’s
real message
Have you missed it?
Genesis: The Missing
Piece of the Puzzle
Why the western world is becoming less Christian and what to do about it.
Jesus Fish/Darwin Fish
Desecration of a Christian icon reveals Darwinian basis for the culture wars.
Who’s inheriting the
wind now?
The bitter harvest of social decay from the Darwinian propaganda film about the
Scopes trial (1925–2005).
Morals decline
Darwinists object, but it’s linked to belief in evolution.
“Universal acid”
Daniel Dennett’s book Darwin’s Dangerous Idea reveals just
how corrosive it is.
Darwin, Spurgeon and
the black dog
How consistent Darwinism eliminates any ultimate meaning in life, leading to suicide.
Darwinist hype and
the culture war
Hype from evolutionists—and there is a lot of it in this ‘year of Darwin’—could
backfire in the culture wars.
Eugenics … death
of the defenceless
The legacy of Darwin’s cousin Galton.
Darwin and eugenics
Darwin was indeed a ‘Social Darwinist’.
A Civic Biology
Text book at centre of the Scopes Trial promoted eugenics.
Social consequences: racism
Darwin and racism
Were Darwin’s views about ‘savages’ like the Fuegians just a product
of his time, rather than of his evolutionary ideas?
Do monkeys play football?
The Darwinian basis for racist taunts.
Darwinism influenced white supremacist David Duke
The case of David Duke, Klu Klux Klanner and Nazi.
Hitler’s
master race
Children of a Darwinian experiment haunted by their past.
Darwin’s “yard apes”
A deadly hurricane exposes an even deadlier philosophy.
Darwin and the Fuegians
Darwin used the indigenous people of Tierra del Fuego to illustrate his ideas about
human evolution. How could he have been so wrong?
Darwin and the Christian Church
Churches celebrating
the “Year of Darwin”
It is a shame that so many churches who embrace evolution are blissfully unaware
that they are caught up in a web of deceit that has the atheists cheering.
Darwin’s arguments
against God
How Darwin rejected the doctrines of Christianity.
Church
of England apologises to Darwin
The (U.K.) Anglican Church’s appeasement of secularism in preparation for
Darwin’s big year.
Darwin and Nazism and Communism
Darwin’s impact
The bloodstained legacy of evolutionary thinking in the deaths of millions because
of Nazism and Communism.
Darwinism and the
Nazi race Holocaust
How Darwin’s theory had a major influence.
America’s
evolutionists
Did American Darwinist eugenicists inspire Hitler?
Review
From Darwin to Hitler Weikart
Review of From Darwin to Hitler by Weikart.
The Darwin-Trotsky connection
How could the son of a rich Jewish land-owner become so vehemently prejudiced against
his father’s class and against religion?
The Darwinian foundation
of communism
Central to the thinking of its central architects like Stalin, Lenin, Marx and Engels.
Darwin’s promoters and defenders
Thomas H. Huxley
Darwin’s bulldog.
Darwin’s
quisling (Charles Kingsley)
Clergymen betraying the faith they profess is not new. But perhaps none was as destructive
as the famous author who smoothed the way for Darwin.
Darwin: the person and his mentors
It was all in the family
Erasmus Darwin’s famous grandson learned early about evolution.
The child is father of
the man
The attitudes of the young Charles Darwin help us understand his later theorizing.
Darwin’s
illegitimate brainchild
If you thought Darwin’s Origin was original, think again!
Darwin’s
slippery slide into unbelief
His drift into an abyss of hopelessness.
Darwin and Lyell
Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution sprung from his acceptance of the deism
of his friends and his influential mentor, the lawyer Charles Lyell.
Reviews of works on Darwin and Darwinism
Creation the movie
This movie portrays Charles Darwin as a loving, devoted family man who struggles
personally over the implications of his theory, thus softening up viewers to buy
his evolutionary ideas.
Review
of Philip Kitcher’s Living with Darwin
Kitcher’s ‘enlightenment’ case fails to deal with creationist
and ID arguments against it, but he ably shows the incompatibility of Christianity
and Darwinism.
Review of Darwin’s
Dangerous Idea by Marr, BBC
Leading presenter Andrew Marr’s 3-part TV series adulates Darwin and his ideas,
but makes some important admissions about their tragic consequences.
Darwinism’s failures and frauds
Fraud rediscovered
Ernst Haeckel, one of the most effective popularizers of evolution, fudged his drawings.
Now the breathtaking extent of his deceit has been revealed.
Ivanov’s ape-human
hybrid project
Archived documents reveal motives behind the ‘forgotten scandal’ of
‘Stalin’s mutant ape army’.
Peacock tail tale failure
Charles Darwin’s ‘theory of sexual selection’ fails to explain
the very thing he concocted it for.
Darwin myths
Holy war?
Who really opposed Darwin? Popular belief has it back to front …
Blast from the Past—
Prof. Johann Blasius
Director of a leading natural history museum in Darwin’s day denounced Origin.
Did Darwin recant?
An argument creationists should not use.
What’s wrong with Darwinism scientifically?
Is Darwin criticism valid
today?
Some criticize creationist groups such as CMI for critiquing Darwin.
Muddy waters
Clarifying Darwin’s confusion over natural selection
The evolution train’s
a-comin (Sorry, a-goin’—in the wrong direction)
The small changes observed in living things are actually heading in the wrong direction
to be used as evidence that natural processes (evolution) can create mankind from
microbes.
Darwin’s finches
Evidence supporting rapid post-Flood adaptation; variation within a kind, not microbes-to-man
evolution.
Would Darwin be a Darwinist
today?
If Darwin knew what we know today, which thoroughly refutes his core ideas, would
he still be an evolutionist?
Review of By Design
Jonathan Sarfati
An independent reviewer is impressed with the scientific arguments for design. Darwinists
claim that design is only apparent; Dr Sarfati shows design is real and consistent
with biblical creation.
Darwin fossil Ida hype
The public hoopla over this fossil belies its real significance. Perhaps Darwinism
is not really about science at all.
Of course, longterm followers and supporters of CMI’s ministry will know that
our main response to the whole year is a major (>$1m) documentary film, The Voyage
that Shook the World. Shot on location in many international locations,
including the famous Galápagos Islands, there has been an outpouring of commendation
for the film’s quality and fairness, the fact that it does not demonize Darwin
while carefully highlighting the influences that shaped his ideas—and their
weaknesses.
In other words, this movie has a lot of light and very little heat—Pastor
S.
Voyage wins its first prize—a “first prize”
The film has recently “won gold” for a dramatised documentary in the
Queensland division of the Australian Cinematographer’s Association Awards,
which automatically puts it in the national awards early in 2010. Man’s honours
mean little in one sense, but the more awards it can pick up the more its message
will spread/penetrate. The process of accumulating such prizes normally takes years,
but then so does the buildup of momentum of a quality documentary, and awards inevitably
give it a “kick along”. One of our speakers recently said as he now
has introduced his twentieth film screening, he can sense a real “buzz”
and momentum building up as the word of mouth spreads.
Many thousands (perhaps tens of thousands) have seen it already, even in the limited
number of cinema releases1
and church screenings to date. Though some have been a bit slow to realize the film’s
tactic to “get through gently” to the unbeliever, for many the penny
has dropped on a subsequent viewing—and for some, the payoff has been to see
a hardcore unbelieving acquaintance shaken to the core and open to talking about
the things of Christ for the first time. We’ve actually heard that sort
of testimony often now. So much so that we can say with confidence that as the numbers
viewing it swell progressively, we will find in years to come that for many, their
conversion process began from the date they were exposed to The Voyage that Shook
the World.
Broadcast sales
For some, the payoff has been to see a hardcore unbelieving acquaintance shaken
to the core and open to talking about the things of Christ for the first time.
Of course, every time there is a broadcaster that buys it for showing on their outlets,
there is a big jump in the number of potential viewers. We followed professional
advice to put it in the hands of a major UK distribution company, anticipating in
any case that there would be “ideological” resistance from the major
channels. Despite this, there have been six sales to date. Two of these are from
secular UK educational bodies, including the right to sell the DVD to students/schools,
which is really exciting. Keep praying for more and more pressure on major broadcasters
not to be influenced by ideological bias or fear of controversy (which should increase
their ratings, anyway).
Exciting affirmation
We were greatly encouraged to receive this unsolicited appraisal, from a pastor
in the US, who was writing not to us, but to his entire congregation (the name has
been deleted for anonymity) after he had seen it. Note particularly his point in
item 3):
Dear XXX (church) Family,
I was privileged to have an advanced showing of the new movie, Darwin: The Voyage
That Shook The World. I strongly urge you to bring your family and come
to see it. Families with teenagers or college students in town should especially
make plans to view this film.
Let me give you four reasons why you should come. If you have engaged family or
friends on the gospel and "evolution" has been a sticking point, please bring these
folks along with you.
- The production values are first rate—this is not a cheesy or poorly made movie.
It is one of the best documentaries in terms of production values (cinematography,
sound, lighting, filmed on location around the world) that I have ever viewed. (You
will not be embarrassed showing this movie to those who are not Christians.)
- The message of the film is right on target. Scientists do not put on their white
coats and enter their laboratories with a blank mind just seeking facts. They bring
their personal biases, the biases of their training and the agendas of their lives
into the scientific process. Not surprisingly, "the facts" are often skewed by the
presuppositions and biases with which they are interpreted. (As sinners who know
something of our own hearts, we should not be surprised by this.)
- The tone of the movie is just right. It is not a shrill or "over the top" attack
on Darwin and his theory of evolution. Such movies have their place with the already
convinced but it would not be helpful to show to those seeking to understand the
issues and make up their minds. The facts are obvious and you can draw your conclusions.
(In other words, this movie has a lot of light and very little heat.)
- We and our children need to see that you do not need to put your brain on the shelf
to become or remain a Christian. One need not ignore reality to be a Christian.
The overwhelming fundamentalism of contemporary scientism makes it an axiom that
evolution is true. Darwin proved it and so has every other scientist since then.
That is THE BIG LIE. Scientists who are believers and unbelievers alike have seen
for years the many problems associated with naturalistic evolution as presupposed
by Darwin. This movie in an even-handed way makes that plain. Neither we nor our
children need be intellectually intimidated by those who act like no one can have
a brain and not believe in evolution. (Later, in two Sunday School classes, we will
show a movie in two sessions, Expelled, which picks up where this movie
on Darwin ends. It will show you how heavy handed and fundamentalist current scientism
is on the college and university level.)
Please try to carve out time to attend. The movie is G rated so the whole family
can watch it. It would probably require a Junior High or above maturity level to
gain full appreciation of what is being viewed. But it will have talking points
for the whole family.
A minister, who had just before the film been very vocal to his colleagues about
his opposition to Genesis creation, said afterwards, ‘I’ve changed my
mind’
I thank God that tools like this are available.
Sincerely in Christ,
Pastor Steve
Pastors challenged
One of the most thrilling outcomes has been to see, in spite of (perhaps because
of) the film’s “non-shrill” approach, church leaders
challenged by the information it presents about compromise on Genesis. Particularly
the bit about where Charles Lyell, the father of geology’s millions-of-years
and Darwin’s mentor, wrote that he was motivated by the desire to “free [the] science
from Moses”. At one screening, a minister who had just before the
film been very vocal to his colleagues about his opposition to Genesis creation,
said afterwards, “I’ve changed my mind”, leaving with an armful
of CMI resources he had purchased.
What you can do
Spread the word—spread the information. If you already have copies
of The Voyage
DVD, use it widely; if not, check it out
on our webstore—bulk prices are available, too. A prominent Christian
film producer called it “the best pre-evangelistic tool I’ve ever seen”.
It’s already demonstrated that it can “shake” the smug Darwinian
confidence of unbelievers. But you need to be ready to follow up (with grace and
wisdom, and perhaps deferring to the website creation.com if need be) with appropriate
materials to answer objections the person(s) might have.
Pray earnestly for the people you’ve shown/lent/given the DVD to,
and for the film to circulate massively around the world, even as you tell folk
about it. Missionary organisations in some countries are talking to us about arrangements
to mass-press very cheap versions for distribution in those countries, often coupled
with other directly evangelistic material. They know about the Darwinian hurdles
people face in countries like China, for instance! Your spreading the word via buying
the DVD from us helps us do this.
Remember that there are (depending on whether it’s NTSC or PAL version) 18-23
language subtitles, so think of people you know from other language groups. As I
write, there is a fully-audio-dubbed Italian version being pressed, with other languages
sure to follow in time.
The “Year of Darwin” will soon be gone.
But the hype about Darwin’s evolution won’t be going anywhere. The Voyage
that Shook the World was made for launch in 2009, as has happened, but
at the same time it was designed, with its historical theme, to be highly relevant
to this issue till the Lord returns. One of our speakers, Dr David Catchpoole, has hosted more Voyage screenings than anyone else in CMI-Australia.
He told me recently that on the basis of the growing groundswell and the reactions
he has experienced, the film’s major work and impact is yet to come, and he
is very excited by the “vibes” he’s picking up. CMI is doing what
it can—the rest is up to the Lord—and in a very real sense, up to you,
to “pick up the ball and run with it”. Let’s all determine to
do what we are able, as God gives us the ability and strength, to counter the forces
aligned against biblical Christianity at this vital, foundational level.
|
Post-script: The following are the articles on
creation.com that relate to The Voyage that Shook the World documentary,
including answering resoundingly (with actual excerpts from the interview text)
the false allegations of misrepresentation of the evolutionist experts interviewed.
|
Charles Darwin Voyage Movie
In Charles Darwin’s footsteps: A new movie is intended to shake large numbers
out of their evolution-based complacency and hostility toward the God of the Bible.
The Voyage Darwin
film defended
Anti-creationists are in a hot lather over The Voyage. Accusations of lying
and deception are flying around the Internet. The truth?
Darwin historians
not misrepresented
As CMI’s Darwin documentary The Voyage that Shook the World starts
to impact, serious allegations emerge which are easily documented as incorrect.
Making Darwin Documentary
How CMI’s documentary The Voyage that Shook the World came together.
Reference
- The film with its 52 minute length was designed for TV, not
cinemas, but we were able to get a short burst of very-well-attended screenings
in commercial cinemas in the southern hemisphere. Return to text.
|
