By Shara Lee

“EVOLUTION is a fact. Beyond reasonable doubt, beyond serious doubt, beyond sane, informed, intelligent doubt, beyond doubt evolution is a fact.”

So states high profile atheist – and champion of Darwinism – Richard Dawkins in the first chapter of his latest book, The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution.

The author of The God Delusion then goes on to claim that “the evidence for evolution is at least as strong as the evidence for the Holocaust . . . It is the plain truth that we are the cousins of chimpanzees, somewhat more distant cousins of monkeys, more distant cousins still of aardvarks and manatees, yet more distant cousins of bananas and turnips – continue the list as long as desired.”

The publisher’s introduction calls Dawkins’ book “a stunning counterattack on advocates of ‘Intelligent Design’ . . . exposing the absurdities of the creationist ‘argument.’”

It asserts that evolution “is accepted as scientific fact by all reputable scientists, and indeed theologians.”

One scientist who begs to differ is Jonathan Sarfati. The chemist and author, who works with Creation Ministries International, is finishing a tour of Canada – whose purpose has been to challenge the credibility of Dawkins’ views.

Sarfati is also promoting his recently published book, The Greatest Hoax on Earth? Refuting Dawkins on Evolution. 

In his introduction, he gives his opponent mixed reviews, stating: “Dawkins writes in a lucid style. He throws in much informative material from real science which keeps the reader interested; but this is mixed with many speculations, and not a few diversionary indulgences – e.g. creationist-bashing.

His overall message is, however, anything but inspiring: we are robots programmed by DNA to replicate more copies of that DNA.”

The author recently spoke to BC Christian News about the state of the debate on the issue of life’s origins.

As he toured the country, he said, he shared his beliefs with a handful of secular professors and students – but he noted that his main target audience were Christians.

Many believers, he said, are afraid of the evolution/ creationism debate – because they don’t know how to defend their stance.

“They’re only taught evolution, and are intimidated by science,” said Sarfati. He said the mission of his tour was to educate Christians, so that they would then have the knowledge to educate others.

Sarfati said he believes the reason most of mainstream society has adopted evolution as fact is because they are given no viable alternative in the public education system.

It is the theory approved for school curricula, and is thus overwhelmingly supported by mainstream media.

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For example, in Canada, Dawkins has appeared on several programs – including The Current, The Hour and even the CBC’s religion/spirituality program, Tapestry; creationists have not been given an equal opportunity to respond.

“The media is overwhelmingly liberal,” said Sarfati. He went on to state that very few of the people who support evolution go to church.

He felt the need to specifically refute Dawkins, because of his notoriety as the world’s leading Darwinist and one of the key proponents of a militant new form of atheism.

At a conference in Melbourne, Sarfati invited Dawkins to join him in a debate. He declined.

According to Sarfati, people need to hear the truth of biblical accounts.

“Along the way, we abandoned Genesis as real history.” He hastened to add that, although he does believe Genesis is a true account of the world’s creation, ‘literal’ is not quite the right word to use.

But he maintained it was written in a style which the original readers of Hebrew would have interpreted as real history.

While many creationists have not accepted the evolutionist concept of natural selection, Sarfati believes this theory fits with God’s plan. He likened natural selection to the process of a “sculptor sculpting” – as opposed to something evolving on its own.

Regarding the origin of the human race, Sarfati said he believes “Adam was a special creation – and from him Eve” was made from dust – but filled with the breath of life from God. Salvation, he contended, is linked to the historical reality of the first couple.

“Luke 3 traces the ancestry of Jesus directly back to Adam,” he said.

Dawkins is on record as a scornful opponent of organized religion. In his 1997 essay, ‘Is Science a Religion?’ he presented the view that parents who teach their children about religion are inflicting “mental child abuse” upon them.

Sarfati’s response to this comment was equally blunt: “It shows the inflammatory and paranoid language that atheists use.”

He also stated that the use of such irresponsible rhetoric undermines the seriousness of actual mental child abuse.

“In North America, evolutionists bamboozle [people] in the science,” said Sarfati.

“Atheism has prospered by stealth, by making God irrelevant for the real world.”

He said he sees his job as encouraging others to challenge evolution, and demonstrating how biblical assumptions are necessary in understanding the history of the world.

He cited archaeology as one effective means, maintaining there is a lot of archaeological evidence to support what the Bible says.

December 2010