Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Evolution an intellectual pacifier, Mohler says on MSNBC
January 04, 2005
By Jeff Robinson

The theory of evolution has become an intellectual pacifier for the secular left in America, and the desire of a Pennsylvania school system to teach Intelligent Design is a signal that parents are fed up with standard liberal teaching on the origins of humanity, R. Albert Mohler Jr. told viewers of MSNBC's "Scarborough Country" Dec. 16.

Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said parents of children who attend America's public schools have become wise to the secular left's agenda in teaching Darwin's theory of evolution as fact. Mohler appeared on the show along with David Silverman, com-munications director for American Atheists, Christian music artist Natalie Grant, and Republican stra-tegist Jack Burkman. Commentator Pat Buchanan served as guest host.

"America's parents have more common sense," Mohler said. "The American public has seen through the theories — that's right, there are multiple theories, there's not just one theory of evolution — and I think America's parents are waking up and they are not going to rest until the schools do the right thing."

Debate centered on the teaching of human origins in public schools. The topic returned to the news on Dec. 14 when the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed suit against a school board in Dover County, Pa., after the board voted in favor of teaching high school students Intelligent Design (ID) alongside the theory of evolution.

ID argues that the complex nature of the universe points to the existence of a supremely intelligent creator. The ACLU, however, claims ID is a Trojan horse for biblical creationism and that teaching it violates the separation of church and state.

Silverman said Darwinian evolution is a theory supported by scientific fact and it alone should be taught in public schools. He dismissed in condescending terms the concept of a supreme intellect that created all things.

"The idea that Darwinistic evolution has happened is fact," Silverman said. "The idea that the universe was created by an invisible magic man in the sky is fiction. It is mythology and it should not be taught. There is no way around it."

Mohler pointed out that ID is not the same thing as creationism and that a majority of Americans want it taught in public schools. Furthermore, Darwinian theory has gained such a foothold in academic circles; one must be an evolutionist to be considered a genuine scientist, Mohler said.

"I believe in creation and the full biblical doctrine of creation," Mohler said. "I am a Christian theologian. But when I am speaking about Intelligent Design as a scientific theory, I do not expect the teacher in the public schools to come out and argue for or against creation.

"But the theory of Intelligent Design comes down to this: in the entire complexity of the universe as we know it — from something as complex as the human eye to the glory of the sky, all the cosmos, all of the planets and their proportion — there is more information necessary there than the theory of evolution can explain.

"According to even evolutionary theory, the information has to be there. That theory can't account for how the information gets there ahead of the mutation or the change. The evolutionists are scared to death. They are circling the wagons. They are defining science so that you have to believe in evolution to be a scientist."

Grant, who is also a mother, said most Americans believe in God and do not see evolution as being true. Teachers should present students with both views, she said.

"If my child has to sit in the classroom and be taught [evolution] as an option that is held in the world, why is it that my child cannot also sit in the classroom and be taught about Intelligent Design as a theory, as an option, so that a child can have a balanced education?

"David [Silverman] says it [creationism] is mythology, ... but the bottom line is that it is a theory that is held by a majority of Americans who believe that there is a God."

Silverman said creationism is nothing more than a myth the religious right is using as a crutch to deal with scientific advancement in the 21st century.

"I must hand it to the right wing here," Silverman said. "This is pure genius. They've got a theory, they've got a mythology — Christianity or creationism as you call it — and they've got absolutely no basis in fact. And they've got the 21st century, which is barreling on in with its science and its knowledge and they say, 'Oh my goodness, how are we going to combat that?' So they repackage their old stuff."

But ID is a scientific theory that presents a credible alternative to evolutionary theory, Mohler said. He pointed out that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that Darwinism is a religious truth claim.

"It [evolution] is just the religion in which there is no God," Mohler said. "Or as others would say there is nothing left for God to do. It is an inherently anti-Christian religion, but it is a religion and that's why they are holding to their dogma so tenaciously."