The problem with making attacks on evolution part of our preaching campaign is that scientifically literate interested friends are hardly going to take our theology seriously when they see we are so hopelessly astray on the science. The warning Augustine issued over 1500 years ago in "The Literal Meaning of Genesis" still is topical in the 21st century:
Usually, even a non-Christian knows something about the earth, the heavens, and the other elements of this world, about the motion and orbit of the stars and even their size and relative positions, about the predictable eclipses of the sun and moon, the cycles of the years and the seasons, about the kinds of animals, shrubs, stones, and so forth, and this knowledge he holds to as being certain from reason and experience.
Now, it is a disgraceful and dangerous thing for an infidel to hear a Christian, presumably giving the meaning of Holy Scripture, talking non-sense on these topics; and we should take all means to prevent such an embarrassing situation, in which people show up vast ignorance in a Christian and laugh it to scorn. The shame is not so much that an ignorant individual is derided, but that people outside the household of the faith think our sacred writers held such opinions, and, to the great loss of those for whose salvation we toil, the writers of our Scripture are criticized and rejected as unlearned men.
If they find a Christian mistaken in a field which they themselves know well and hear him maintaining his foolish opinions about our books, how are they going to believe those books in matters concerning the resurrection of the dead, the hope of eternal life, and the kingdom of heaven, when they think their pages are full of falsehoods on facts which they themselves have learnt from experience and the light of reason?
Reckless and incompetent expounders of holy Scripture bring untold trouble and sorrow on their wiser brethren when they are caught in one of their mischievous false opinions and are taken to task by those who are not bound by the authority of our sacred books. For then, to defend their utterly foolish and obviously untrue statements, they will try to call upon Holy Scripture for proof and even recite from memory many passages which they think support their position, although “they understand neither what they say nor the things about which they make assertion.”
There are many reasons to believe. Special creationism is not one of them, and we would be well advised to cease tying the Hope of Israel with evolution denialism, otherwise we will continue to bring our community into disrepute with such naive, scientifically vacuous nonsense.
This is not a 'name and shame' endeavour, but a n honest plea to my fellow believers to stop making such appalling, poorly-researched attacks on evolution and linking orthodoxy with science denialism.
A representative list of Christadelphian websites attacking evolution:
Lichfield [1]
Mountain Grove [2]
Cambridge [3]
Perth [4]
Dawn [5]
Wrested Scriptures [6]
Stirling [7]
Taree [8]
Peterborough [9]
Guildford [10]
Parkstone [11]
Seaton [12]
Christadelphian Advocate [13]
General [14]
Glasgow Kelvin [15]
Ipswich [16]
CBM [17]
Halifax [18]
San Francisco Peninsula [19]
Shrewsbury Ecclesia [20]
Wombourne Christadelphians [21]
1. Lichfield Christadelphians "God's Creation, not Darwin's Evolution"
Location: Staffordshire, UK
Failure to define evolution properly: YES
Dismissal of evolution as "only a theory": YES
Argument from personal incredulity: YES
Argument from authority: YES
Quote mining:
Conflating evolution and atheism:
2. Mountain Grove Christadelphians
Location: Burlington, Ontario
Failure to define evolution properly: YES
Dismissal of evolution as "only a theory":
Argument from personal incredulity:
Argument from authority: YES
Quote mining: YES
Conflating evolution and atheism:
3. Cambridge Christadelphians. "The Darwin Delusion"
Location: Cambridge, UK
Failure to define evolution properly: YES
Dismissal of evolution as "only a theory":
Argument from personal incredulity: YES
Argument from authority: YES
Quote mining:
Conflating evolution and atheism:
4. Perth Christadelphians. "Creation or Chance?"
Location: Perth, Australia
Failure to define evolution properly: YES
Dismissal of evolution as "only a theory":
Argument from personal incredulity: YES
Argument from authority:
Quote mining:
Conflating evolution and atheism: YES
5. Dawn Christadelphians "Creation: Fact or Fiction?"
Location: Online
Failure to define evolution properly: YES
Dismissal of evolution as "only a theory": YES
Argument from personal incredulity: YES
Argument from authority: YES
Quote mining: YES
Conflating evolution and atheism:
6. Wrested Scriptures - "Evolution"
Location: Online
Failure to define evolution properly: YES
Dismissal of evolution as "only a theory":
Argument from personal incredulity:
Argument from authority: YES
Quote mining:
Conflating evolution and atheism: YES
7. Stirling Christadelphians "Darwin, Dawkins and the Religion of Evolution"
Location: Stirling, UK
Failure to define evolution properly: YES
Dismissal of evolution as "only a theory":
Argument from personal incredulity: YES
Argument from authority:
Quote mining:
Conflating evolution and atheism: YES
8. Taree Christadelphians "Evolution"
Location: Taree, Australia
Failure to define evolution properly: YES
Dismissal of evolution as "only a theory":
Argument from personal incredulity:
Argument from authority:
Quote mining: YES
Conflating evolution and atheism: YES
9. Peterborough Christadelphians "Two Hundred Years Celebration of the Birth of Darwin"
Location: Peterborough, UK
Failure to define evolution properly: YES
Dismissal of evolution as "only a theory":
Argument from personal incredulity: YES
Argument from authority:
Quote mining:
Conflating evolution and atheism: YES
10. The Bible in Guilford "Creation or Evolution?"
Location: Guildford, UK
Failure to define evolution properly: YES
Dismissal of evolution as "only a theory":
Argument from personal incredulity: YES
Argument from authority: YES
Quote mining:
Conflating evolution and atheism:
11. Parkstone Christadelphian Church "Creation or Evolution?"
Location: Poole, UK
Failure to define evolution properly: YES
Dismissal of evolution as "only a theory":
Argument from personal incredulity: YES
Argument from authority:
Quote mining:
Conflating evolution and atheism: YES
12. Seaton Christadelphians "Creation"
Location: Seaton, UK
Failure to define evolution properly: YES
Dismissal of evolution as "only a theory":
Argument from personal incredulity: YES
Argument from authority:
Quote mining: YES
Conflating evolution and atheism:
13. The Christadelphian Advocate "If Evolution Were True"
Location: Online
Failure to define evolution properly: YES
Dismissal of evolution as "only a theory":
Argument from personal incredulity: YES
Argument from authority: YES
Quote mining: YES
Conflating evolution and atheism:
14. The Christadelphians (United Kingdom) "The Origin of Life"
Location: Online
Failure to define evolution properly: YES
Dismissal of evolution as "only a theory":
Argument from personal incredulity: YES
Argument from authority: YES
Quote mining:
Conflating evolution and atheism: YES
15. Glasgow Kelvin Christadelphians "Creation - Argument Against Evolution"
Location: Glasgow, UK
Failure to define evolution properly: YES
Dismissal of evolution as "only a theory":
Argument from personal incredulity:
Argument from authority:
Quote mining:
Conflating evolution and atheism: YES
16. Ipswich Christadelphians (Ipswich, United Kingdom) (Multiple articles)
Location: Ipswich, UK
Failure to define evolution properly: YES
Dismissal of evolution as "only a theory":
Argument from personal incredulity: YES
Argument from authority: YES
Quote mining:
Conflating evolution and atheism: YES
17. Christadelphian Bible Mission (United Kingdom) "Lesson 2"
Location: UK
Failure to define evolution properly: YES
Dismissal of evolution as "only a theory": YES
Argument from personal incredulity:
Argument from authority:
Quote mining:
Conflating evolution and atheism: YES
18. Halifax Christadelphians "Creation or Evolution? - Give the Bible a Fair Hearing"
Location: Halifax, UK
Failure to define evolution properly: YES
Dismissal of evolution as "only a theory":
Argument from personal incredulity: YES
Argument from authority: YES
Quote mining: YES
Conflating evolution and atheism: YES
19. San Francisco Peninsula Christadelphians "The Gospel of Your Salvation"
Location: San Francisco, USA
Failure to define evolution properly: YES
Dismissal of evolution as "only a theory":
Argument from personal incredulity:
Argument from authority:
Quote mining:
Conflating evolution and atheism: YES
20. Shrewsbury Christadelphians "The Darwin Delusion"
Location: Shrewsbury, UK
Failure to define evolution properly: YES
Dismissal of evolution as "only a theory":
Argument from personal incredulity:
Argument from authority:
Quote mining: YES
Conflating evolution and atheism: YES
21. Wombourne Christadelphians "Creation or Evolution"
Location: Wombourne, UK
Failure to define evolution properly: YES
Dismissal of evolution as "only a theory":
Argument from personal incredulity: YES
Argument from authority: YES
Quote mining:
Conflating evolution and atheism:
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