The Christian Right seems to believe that if only everyone followed their brand of Christianity faithfully, everything in society would be good and right. The presence of social problems thus leads them to search out anti-Christian influences which are causing the problems. One of the top items on their list is the teaching of evolution.

The July/August 2000 issue of Church & State explains:

[W]hen [Ken] Ham, of Answers in Genesis, was asked in an interview with CNN if children are being harmed by lessons on evolution, he said, “Oh, absolutely. I remember seeing Jeffrey Dahmer interviewed as to why he killed people, and one of the things he said was because he was told he came from slime. He was taught evolution; he believed he was accountable to no one but himself.”

John Morris, president of the Institute for Creation Research, seems to want to pin virtually all of the world’s problems on evolutionary biology. ‘‘The failed concepts of racism, fascism, Marxism, imperialism, etc., are founded on evolutionary principles,” Morris told the National Religious Broadcasters’ magazine. ‘‘The failing practices of homosexuality, abortion and promiscuity, are consequences of wrong worldviews and rebellion against parents.”

Here we can see why the Christian Right really opposes teaching evolution — not because evolution is bad science (it isn’t), but because they think evolution is a source of problems in American society. It really doesn’t matter whether evolution is true or not from their perspective. All that matters is that it conflicts with their brand of Christianity, conflicts with their interpretation of the Bible, and leads to social conflicts.

As the NCSE’s Matsumura argues:

“People are short-changed in two ways,” Matsumura told Church & State, “First, this approach discourages finding real solutions to the problems that teaching evolution supposedly causes, Second, when you’ve got parents telling kids to literally put their hands over their ears when they hear the ‘e-word’ those kids aren’t going to learn how to use evolutionary science to solve problems in medical research, agriculture. conservation, and so on. And it’s not only science, but all public discourse that’s harmed. Demonizing the opposition is never healthy for democracy.”

I’m not sure that the Christian Right understands any tactic but demonizing the opposition. After all, they are on the side of truth, righteousness, and God. Theirs is a holy quest to restore the dominance of True Christianity to America and eventually the world. Their agenda is not their own, but God’s. Everyone who opposes them must therefore necessarily be opposing the will of God for all humanity. Who but demons and the minions of Satan would do that?

 

Quick Poll: Are evolution and the teaching of evolution responsible for society's ills?

1. Yes, destructive doctrines like fascism, communism, and humanism can all be traced to evolution.
2. No, of course not, that's just nonsense from the far religious right.
3. I don't know.
4. I don't care.

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Read More:

• Evolution vs. Creationism
• Science vs. Religion
• What is Intelligent Design?
• What is Science?

 

Christian Nationalism & Dominion Theology:

• Dominionism & Dominion Theology
• Christian Reconstructionism
• Leading Christian Reconstructionists
• Reconstructionism & Christian Right: Common Goals, Beliefs

 

Christian Right Issues & Agenda:

• Religious Privilege
• Christian Privilege
• Christian Supremacy