Lest Freedom be Expelled

My junior year in college, I walked into a required Anthropology class and listened wide-eyed as the professor proclaimed, “I am a Christian and I believe in evolution, and that is just the way it is.” Over the next semester, he presented a multitude of “evidence” that led me to seriously question my faith. This, a Christian institution of higher learning, was my first encounter with serious faith-rocking “evidence” that life began at random, an accident at best. And I had no good argument with which to refute this “Christian evolutionist’s” claims. I had no idea that Ernst Haekel’s embryo recapitulation chart was actually a fraud (yes, my prof actually taught this as truth). I never dared to actually verbalize the skepticism I felt when I found out just how many “fossils” had been manufactured (the barn paint one really got me). I was taught not to question authority, even when authority flew in the face of all I had ever believed to be true. So, I sat there like a good little girl and got my A. It wasn’t until much later that I realized this professor was teaching nothing but bad science, and my inability to speak out and question it served only to perpetuate his “evidence.”

As my faith has become stronger and my knowledge of science deeper, I have often wondered what would have happened to me had I questioned this man. Would I have failed to receive an A in that class or possibly even failed the class altogether? Would I have been labeled a trouble-maker and been banned from speaking in class? Would I have managed to influence others I spoke to in private to speak out publicly as well? The answer, more than likely, would be YES, to all of the above.

But, I cannot go back and change something that happened 10 years ago. Yet, something I can do is prepare and equip my own children for the day when (notice I do not say “if”) they will be confronted with the THEORY of evolution and all its implications. I want to give them the tools to delineate fact from fiction. I want for them the understanding I did not possess.

With this knowledge, I must also instill in them a certain amount of fight, an endurance, a desire to stand against all odds for the TRUTH, because folks, our freedom of speech, as Christians who are in legitimate disagreement with a theory that is being taught as a law, is nonexistent. We are not allowed to speak out, and if we do, we become relegated to the religion corner where all ideas contrary to Darwinism are poo-pooed and shunned as quackery simply because they point to a Creator and not the accidental atheistic ordering of life from non-living materials. You even dare to speak the word “intelligent” or the word “design” in the same sentence as “science,” and the ears of the modern-day scientific community instantaneously become deaf. They will have none of it, but for the sake of TRUTH, we must keep speaking!

Ben Stein’s documentary, “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed” entreats those who see the flaws in Darwinism to speak out. This verse comes to mind when I consider the task before us:

“Does not wisdom call, and understanding lift up her voice? On top of the heights beside the way, where the paths meet, she takes her stand; Beside the gates, at the opening to the city, At the entrance of the doors, she cries out: ‘To you, O men, I call, And my voice is to the sons of men. O naive ones, understand prudence; and, O fools, understand wisdom. Listen, for I will speak noble things; and the opening of my lips will reveal right things. For my mouth will utter truth.'” (Proverbs 8:1-7a)

As our freedom of speech continues to be squashed, we must hold steadfast. But one word of caution…we need to know our stuff. We cannot go into battle unarmed. Our arguments must be well-thought out and scientifically sound. We cannot simply start shooting ANTI-arrows. We’ve got to have some answers of our own. We must be free to inquire, to question, to offer another opinion…that is our inalienable right.

I encourage you to watch Expelled, then buy Expelled and watch it over again. Consider the implications of the “gag order” against freely expressing a differing view. Consider how you can speak out. Equip your children with a Biblical worldview and then teach them the life applications of that worldview. This is where the rubber meets the road…are you willing to exercise your freedom of speech?