Worldviews in Conflict

Student files

Worldview conflicts are the opposing cultural dynamics that arise from differing worldviews. These can be seen in every aspect of our society; from basic ethics to civil law - a clash that is becoming increasingly more vocal as liberal groups aggressively demand abandonment of traditional moral values.

On the Biblical side of the conflict are the evangelical and fundamentalist churches, and conservative, pro-family groups. Generally on the liberal / humanist / evolutionist side are the news and entertainment media, government schools and universities, government institutions, and other liberal groups. Evolution is the rallying point of humanist groups. If, as they claim, we’re just accidents in space, then we can set the rules and don’t have to be accountable to any God.

These conflicts stem from the two basic worldviews or belief systems: one in which God is at the center of the picture, and one that places man at the center. Evolution, by its very nature, requires a worldview in opposition to the Bible. Simply put, if evolution is true, then the Bible is incorrect. If Genesis isn’t true, it casts doubt on the accuracy of the whole Bible. These two views are the basis of today’s culture clash.

Adam and Eve were only mythological; they didn't disobey God and introduce sin into the world;
Sin is then just undesirable traits left over from the lower stages of evolution, which humankind will eventually outgrow;
Jesus is merely a good man, perhaps ahead of his time, rather than the Savior and cornerstone of our faith.

The Biblical worldview holds that man is a fallen creature—essentially flawed, selfish, and in need of a Savior. Without God prominently in the picture, culture and society inevitably degenerate to a state of disorder and decay (de-evolution). The humanist view on the other hand, is that man’s nature is essentially good, and that if given enough time we will eventually outgrow the problems that society faces. This view states that we need to throw off past restraints (especially religious and moral restraints) so that we are free to explore and develop toward a higher state of being.

Public school

Main Article: Anticreation in public schools

There is perhaps no other place where the worldview conflict is more apparent than in the U.S. public school system. A country with a solid Christian heritage has reached a status where teachers have become fearful of exposing their faith in the workplace, and environment strongly supportive of Darwinistic leanings.

This movement is in no small part due to the activities of groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union, which quickly move to sue any school district where it is reported that a teacher is challenging Darwinism or introducing intelligent design concepts in the classroom. Numerous examples have also been documented where educators were discriminated against in academia simply because of their faith in God, even when their beliefs never made it into the classroom..^[1]

Progress has also been furthered by the National Academy of Sciences, which is predominated by atheism and advises U.S. policy makers regarding science education. To this end, the NAS strongly discourages the teaching of creationism and urges teachers to define science in terms of philosophical naturalism (See: Science, Evolution, and Creationism). Government policy is now also in place to discourage those who believe in God from receiving teaching certificates.^[2]

Science Redefined

With the acceptance of Darwinism by the mainstream scientific community, the quest for an explanation of our world has been redefined in terms of materialism and naturalism.

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If there is no God, then everything is permissible. —Fyodor Dostoyevski

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[I suppose the reason] we all jumped at the Origin [of Species] was because the idea of God interfered with our sexual mores. —Sir Julian Huxley, evolutionary biologist, 1887-1975

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This is in stark contrast to Biblical Christianity from what it states in Romans 1:22-25 . Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator--who is forever praised.

Morality

These two trends of thought may be plainly seen in our society today, resulting in a war between the two cultures when they clash. The liberal viewpoint has successfully challenged the accepted standards of behavior in virtually every aspect of life today. One of the ways the humanist viewpoint has made itself manifest in today’s culture is the concept of moral relativism or relative morality. This is the notion that there are no absolute standards of behavior, because what’s wrong for you may be perfectly normal for someone else. Moral relativism says that it’s okay to do anything you want as long as it doesn't hurt anyone.

The fact that there is a battle at all is only because traditional values groups are fighting to hold on to a vanishing concept of morality in public life.

According to Dan Manthei (Creation magazine 1998):

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It is not difficult to see the results. God is being removed from public life. Man now determines what is right and wrong, and laws are written by whoever possesses the most political power. No longer do we look to the Bible as the basis for establishing law—instead, we now base our laws on man’s desires and opinions.^[3]

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Code Words

Christians are routinely accused of seeing things in black and white because we subscribe to rules given to us by the Lawgiver, which clearly define standards of right and wrong. In contradistinction to those laws, some trendy terms have been adopted by liberals and subsequently become associated with modern pop culture.

Here are some of the most prominent:

Tolerance = don’t judge anyone’s moral behavior, no matter what it is, because there are no absolute standards of behavior. Christians are viewed as intolerant because we believe that God has given us certain laws, which if not followed will lead to moral chaos and decay of society.
Diversity = the fact that there’s biological diversity in God’s creation is extended to mean that every type of belief and morality is equally valid; we need to have every type of aberrant behavior or special interest group equally represented to avoid any hint of discrimination.
Multiculturalism = all cultures and religions are equally valid; no one of these is better than any other; therefore there is no such thing as absolute truth, but all beliefs are subjective.

These terms are so widely used in the popular culture that, along with evolution, they’ve become accepted as absolute truth, not to be questioned. If anyone dares to challenge their validity they’re labeled as intolerant bigots.

Religion

In the popular media the clash between worldviews, as embodied in the creation – evolution debate, has been characterized by portraying science as hard, objective facts, while religion, Biblical Christianity in particular, is just subjective, unprovable feelings. Religion teaches morality but otherwise has no relation to the real world.

We see that evolution is a worldview—a philosophy, a belief system better described as evolutionism. As mentioned earlier, secular humanism, which has been defined as a religion, has evolution as its foundation.

Some people defend evolution to the end, not because of its scientific merits, but because it’s their philosophical base: if they were to admit it’s wrong it would destroy their whole belief system. Changing one’s philosophical base involves a huge paradigm shift, which, without God’s help is well nigh impossible.

There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death. Proverbs 14:12

According to Henry Morris:

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Evolution is not merely a biological theory of little significance. It is a world view—the world view diametrically opposing the Christian world view. Therefore Christians ignore it or compromise with it at great peril!^[4]

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Death

Evolutionism says that through constant struggle, the fittest survive. The best are selected out to reproduce, and through this process beneficial traits accumulate to propel us to higher stages on the evolutionary ladder. Though not often stated, the goal of the evolutionary process is envisioned as a humanistic utopia, in which war, disease and poverty are vanquished.

The Bible teaches that because of our fallen nature we are separated from God. Our tendency to want to question what God has said started in the Garden of Eden, and has carried over to modern culture. Instead of trusting God, humanity would rather have our own way, and find out what evil is all about by experiencing it.

but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die. Genesis 2:17

He [the serpent] said to the woman, "Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?" Genesis 3:1b

"You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." Genesis 3:4-5

They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie 2Thessalonians 2:10b-11

This lie alluded to is essentially the effect of lifting man above that of God. It is the expression of life that means we don’t want God to interfere. This is manifest in statements such as this one by Harvard geneticist and Marxist Richard Lewontin:

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We [scientists] have … a prior commitment to materialism [and] we are forced by our a priori adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that produce material explanations… Moreover, that materialism is absolute, for we cannot allow a Divine Foot in the door.^[5]

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References

Jump up↑ New Ben Stein Flick, Expelled, Blows the Whistle on the Darwinist Inquisition Evolution News and Views. August 23, 2007
Jump up↑ Future Teachers Conditional Scholarship and Loan Repayment Program Washington Higher Education Coordinating Board. 2008.
Jump up↑ Two worldviews in conflict: Evolution is absolutely opposed to the Bibleby Dan Manthei, Creation 20(4):26–27, September 1998.
Jump up↑ The Long War Against God, by Dr. Henry Morris, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1989, p. 23
Jump up↑ Lewontin, R., "Billions and Billions of Demons," The New York Review, Jan. 9, 1997, p. 31