Fooled by Stephen J. Gould?

There are a lot of people who are so blinded by their fundamentalist religious faith that it prevents them from developing coherent ideas about evolution and atheism. This is especially unfortunate when misguided publications allow such people to spread their misunderstandings even further.

Robert E. Meyer writes for American Daily:

If atheism is the philosophical morphine which provides refuge from contemplating the future justice of God, and the justification for abdicating spiritual responsibilities; then evolutionary theory is the veneer of scientific credence, the cosmetic of rationality providing cover for this self-deceptive faith commitment.

There isn’t a single true idea in anything written above. Not even if we assume for the sake of argument that the premises are true would the hypothetical if-then be accurate. Meyer is described as someone whose “goal is to understand every aspect of life,” but it’s apparent that he didn’t even spend a tiny amount of time trying to understand atheism or evolution.

I have been told that a number of years ago, the renowned biologist, Sir Julian Huxley made an interesting comment to an interviewer on a British television program. When asked why the scientific community quickly embraced evolution, Huxley responded, "I suppose the reason we leaped at The Origin of the Species, was because the idea of God interfered with our sexual mores." Is Huxley alone in his brutally honest confessions? Hardly.

Is Meyer alone in his less-than-honest citation of quotes without any apparent basis in reality? Hardly. There is a cottage industry among creations for the fabrication of quotes and the selective misquoting of people in order to prop up a religious doctrine in the hopes of making it look moderately respectable.

Read More:

• Atheism 101
• Defining Atheism
• Evolution vs. Creationism
• Science vs. Religion