Darwinian Irony

It is ironic and interesting to note that Charles Darwin, when he proposed his original evolution theories, did not see it, nor did he present it, as an atheistic alternative to God’s creation, but rather as an explanation of the method by which God created and subsequently diversified life through the process of natural selection. See my earlier article: Charles Darwin was not an Atheist! As proven in that article, with Darwin’s own words, he saw no reason for his theories to be a problem for religious people. He was himself a Deist, and never suggested evolution as a contradiction to Divine design. Adding further irony to this matter, the fact that Darwin was a Deist, is yet another thing the extremists at both poles of this debate don’t want you to know. Just as they agree on the exclusion of Deist Evolutionary Theory from the debate, they don’t like people having the knowledge of Darwin’s Deist viewpoint; that in fact the “father” of evolution theory was not an Atheist, but embraced a Deist Evolutionary philosophy.

Evolution Does Not Substitute Nor Contradict Creation

It is that genuinely Deist and original Darwinian perspective, which I embrace. Evolution is not a godless contradiction to Creation. It is not a theory to replace God, but rather it is an examination of how God did it. Evolution is the means of creation, and the further diversification of life, not a substitute for Divine involvement in the process.

Even Genesis Concurs

Even when we look at the creation stories in the book of Genesis in the Bible, {written in a culture and time period that lacked an understanding of the processes of evolution, as we comprehend it today}, we see a pattern of God starting with the creation of simpler “lower” life forms working up toward the increasingly complex, more highly evolved forms. While the biblical writer did not know the modern language of evolution, his inspiration still gave him an intuitive grasp of it, presenting the creation according to a general evolutionary sequence. Ultimately, it is easy to see that humankind did not create evolution, God did. We merely discovered it, a long time after the fact.

Deist Clockwork Cosmos

The Deist Clockwork Cosmos is one in which God set in motion a set of physical laws governing the evolution of all things, both living and non-living elements of the Cosmos. This theory is not to be mistaken for the more recent so called “Intelligent Design Theory”, which is little more than a thinly veiled variant of Creationism. The Deist Clockwork Cosmos Theory has actually been around much longer, and proceeds from neither a theological nor a dogmatic view. It does not attempt to impose any limitations or anthropomorphic attributes upon the designer. Rather, it merely states that since the Universe exhibits design, there must have been a designer. It can not presume to know the nature of that designer, and consequently does not try to do so.

Cosmic Design or Happen Chance?

In the Deist Cosmos, planets evolve, stars evolve, whole star systems evolve, galaxies evolve, and even galactic clusters evolve. And within this starry arena that we call the Universe, myriad forms of life have undoubtedly also evolved, spread throughout the trillions upon trillions of specs of light in the night’s sky and beyond. Could all of this have just come about by some happen chance? Could it have simply fallen into existence, without some form of intelligence actually putting it into motion? It may be true that at this time, we can not prove the existence of a creator/designer. Just the same, the Universe spreads before our eyes, crying out loud that it was designed. And the grand designer of it all, must by definition be God. In the end, there is actually no debate; both evolution and creation are real. The one simply explains how the other was done. In reality they are not contradictory at all. Consequently, the so-called “Monkey Trial” was a complete waste of time and money. It was all staged anyway, as a distraction from issues of real substance. Such is the typical nature of politics and media working together. It was true then, and remains so, today. But that is another story, and an altogether different debate.

Simple Elegant Truths

Some may say these arguments are simplistic. That may be true, but then the world is filled with simple elegant truths. That does not make them any less valid. If indeed Deist Evolution is such an elegant and simple truth, then most people should easily accept it as possible, even probable. I have found that as I’ve discussed this topic with many people, those who reject this notion are actually a highly vocal minority on both sides. The real numbers of the extremists are rather low. It does appear that most people see this debate as a non-issue, for evolution by design emerges as the most plausible explanation of the way things are put together on this Earth, and indeed throughout the Cosmos. God’s creation is a carefully designed clockwork, which once set in motion continues to function without need of further “Divine” intervention. We are a part of that clockwork, and like all of the other parts, we too are engaged in the on-going process of evolution, both physical and psycho/spiritual.

Stimulation of Debate

I hope this article will stimulate a debate on this topic. If it does, I will likely draw upon concepts and ideas from our ensuing discussion as a springboard for an Evolution/Creation disquisition. By participating in this discussion you will contribute to the thoughts, which will ultimately go into that paper.