We've all heard it—the constant haranguing from educators and the media that only the lunatic "fundamentalist" fringe in America still believes in creation. To hear them talk, one would think that evolution has not only been proven, but that all thinking persons have accepted it.
Readers of these pages hopefully are aware that these sweeping pronouncements are not so. In reality, the fringe element in American society is the naturalistic evolutionist, not the fundamentalist!
Results released on November 28, 1991, of a national opinion survey by Gallup Poll, support this position. The pollsters found that 41 percent of all Americans consider themselves "born again," or "evangelical Christians," "up from 33 percent in 1986. Doesn't sound like a "fringe" group" to me.
When asked about their views on origins, 47 percent of the respondents replied that they believed in a special, recent creation of man by God (up from 44 percent in 1982), while another 40 percent held to a God-directed form of evolution (up from 38 percent in 1982). Only nine percent held to a strictly naturalistic brand of evolution.
The problem lies in the fact that almost all university professors espouse this minority view. Typically out of touch with mainstream America (and perhaps reality), university professors include a high percentage of Marxists, New-Age advocates, and atheists. And yet, mainstream America unthinkingly pays large sums of money in tuition to have their young people brainwashed by this radical, fringe element.
Thankfully, the radical professors don't do a very good job at brainwashing. A typical response by academicians to polls such as this, would be, "What are we doing wrong? How can we teach evolution better? Most students are wise enough to reject ideas such as humans descending from animals by chance, that humans are capable of producing a utopian earth, etc. When I was on the faculty of a major university, many, many students came to me telling of brainwashing and intimidation attempts by their professors, and found intellectual satisfaction in more reasonable beliefs.
But their real problem is that evolution is an illogical theory. Logical people know we didn't come from animals; most children simply will not believe it. One has to go to school a long time before the brainwashing really sinks in.
In a country where the majority rules and government should reflect the perspective of the people, how can we begin to change things? Jesus called us to influence society for the better, and it could be that He wants some to become involved in politics. At the very least, each Christian should faithfully vote for those candidates who stand for Biblical values in family and society.
It frequently has been shown that less than 25 percent of Christians ever vote, while other activist groups, such as the homosexuals, vote at over a 90-percent rate. No wonder they have such influence.
If just half of America's Christians knowledgeably voted, then, within a decade, nearly every elected official would be at least sympathetic to the Christian position.
*Dr. John Morris is the President of ICR.
