How School Textbooks Teach Atheism

To illustrate the diversity of life, Dr. Stephen Law, in his popular textbook Real Big Questions, states:

“In our forests, jungles, deserts, and oceans, there is an extraordinary range of living things—from enormous blue whales to tiny jewel like insects. But where did  all of these different species come from?”

Then Law lists one possibility that explains where all life came from:

“Take the Bible. It says the world was made in six days. On the third day, God made all of the plants: on the fifth, creatures of the sea and sky: and on the sixth day, he made the land creatures. These stories from different times and places, and religions are… wonderful. But are they true?”

On the next page the author argues that the Bible account is wrong. The truth, he claims, is evolution. Under the heading, What is Evolution, Dr. Law then explains how evolution works:

“Today almost all scientists agree about how life appeared on Earth. They say the different species emerged very slowly, over many millions of years by a process called evolution. At first there were only simple life-forms on our planet. As these simple things reproduced they sometimes changed slightly, gradually over enormous periods of time these small changes added up to bigger changes, until new more complex kinds of creatures began to emerge.”

He then adds the following:

“Charles Darwin discovered the process of natural selection, which provides one explanation for  why species evolve. When living things reproduce, their offspring may be slightly different. Changes suited to a particular habitat are more likely to be passed on to the next generation than those that are not. So living things gradually adapt to fit their surroundings.”

The fact is, humans have been breeding animals for thousands of years and always reach an endpoint where additional change is not possible. Much variety exists in the animal world and some animals are easily capable of change; greatly adaptable. This includes dogs, cats, and horses. Even with these animals, however, genetic limits exist. Breeders were once able to breed faster horses, but now have reached the equine limit. From 1875 to 1950, Kentucky Derby winners’ average thoroughbred speed increased by roughly ten percent. Since the 1950s, though, the average speed for winners has been very similar. The horse speed limit has been reached. In most animals, such as skunks and racoons, very little genetic variety exists. If limits have been reached by breeding experts (as intelligent designers), how can one believe that better results can be achieved by chance in the wild due to mutations?

Evolution is the progression from molecules to cells, to bacteria-like life-forms, to amphibians, reptiles, mammals, primates, and, last, to humans purely by the accumulation of mutations which are relied on to produce genetic variety. Evolution claims that the genetic variability provided by mutations is then culled and preserved by ‘natural selection’, a process called “survival of the fittest.”

The major problem with this idea is that close to 99 percent of all mutations are near-neutral, deleterious (very harmful), or lethal. Near-neutral means they only cause slight damage, but the slight damage adds up in time, eventually causing genetic catastrophe, i.e., death, and, eventually, species extinction.

The genetic burden (i.e., mutation load) in humans is accumulating, eventually leading to mutational meltdown and extinction. Healthcare professionals are very aware of this fact and one of the main focuses today is to medically counteract the damage caused by mutations. Mutational events also are the cause of aging. Thus entire species age, as do all life-forms. Species aging eventually causes species extinction.

Despite this reality, most leading scientists favor the view that mutations are our creator, not God. This view is not only irresponsible, it is contrary to fact. This view is believed partly because the lower courts have, without exception, ruled that evolution must be taught in all public schools as fact. Furthermore, information contrary to this worldview must not be taught in public schools because, the courts have ruled, doing so is teaching unconstitutional “back-door religion.”

The Big Bang teaches that the entire universe came from an extremely compact something called ‘the primordial egg’. This view, held by leading scientists such as Stephen Hawking, teaches that, for some unknown and unexplainable reason, this primordial egg “exploded.” From this matter, energy, time, and space were all created. In short, the “scientific” view is literally that nothing created everything. Thus, from nothing came everything. Evolution tells us not only where we came from, but also where we are going. Eventually, the stars will burn out, destroying the planets and their satellites. The universe will then consist of dust spread out to the level that the cosmos will forever consist of a state very close to a vacuum. Never again will life or anything else exist anywhere. In short, evolution is not only scientifically false but is a pessimistic, depressing worldview devoid of hope and a future.

Creation, conversely, tells us a very different story. It is an account of purpose, meaning, and life eternal with a God Who, in the beginning, created everything, and cares about us. In my church and school presentations, using both verbal and pictorial illustrations, I document and explain this in more detail. The evidence for the Creator God is found everywhere in both the physical and biological worlds. God will not allow the pessimistic state of affairs envisioned by secular atheist scientists to occur.