Origins and “Child Abuse”

An AiG supporter recently brought to my attention a blog where creationist tours of the Denver Zoo and the Denver Museum of Nature and Science are referred to by the blogger as “child abuse.” (I’ve blogged about this issue before.)

Now, this particular blog is not well known, but it highlights an important trend among those who oppose biblical creation. We already see evolutionists refusing to debate creationists and claiming there is supposedly such a lack of evidence for biblical creation that it isn’t worth their time. However, more and more secularists are going a step further and painting creationists as “child abusers,” not only attempting to discredit the Bible, but also trying to prevent the teaching of biblical creation altogether. I’ve seen this not just on blogs but even from readers who comment on these posts, responding with accusations of creationism being “pure child abuse.”

We’ve noticed in recent times an increase in secularist rhetoric regarding the issue of children being taught the Bible is true in Genesis. Off and on over the last few years ago, secularists have used the term “child abuse” to describe Christians who teach their children to believe the Christian faith, but in recent times, we’ve seen an enormous increase in the secularist accusation of “child abuse” leveled at Christians, particularly those who teach children to believe in a literal Genesis.

In one example, an atheist blogger wrote last year, “The king of the Answers in Genesis hucksters, Ken Ham, is panhandling for the fundamentalist institute in Modesto where they are holding a Creationist Conference. Ken’s a big promoter of pseudo-science methodology to try to ‘prove’ that the earth is less than 10,000 years old. Sending children to be misinformed by this fundamentalist is borderline child abuse” (http://littlegreenfootballs.com/page/261504).

Richard Dawkins makes an argument that Christianity—specifically belief in the truth of Scripture—is child abuse in his book The God Delusion. And in an article published just this year, Dawkins made the statement that creationism should not be taught to children, and commented on the state of schools in England with the following:

It is clear that some faith schools are ignoring the regulations and are continuing to teach myth as though it were science," Dawkins said. "Evolution is fact, supported by evidence from a host of scientific disciplines, and we do a great disservice to our young people if we fail to teach it properly. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/jan/15/free-schools-creationism-intelligent-design?newsfeed=true)

Two other blogs I came across both dealt with creationism in terms of “child abuse.” In 2011, a well-trafficked atheist blog reviewed and gave away copies of a book on how religion is child abuse. In order to receive a copy, people had to post my name, “Ken Ham,” in the comments—the clear implication being that creationism is a form of abuse (http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2011/06/18/shedding-light-on-religious-child-maltreatment/).

P.Z. Myers, a professor at the University of Minnesota, said that thinking such as creationism “works as a kind of brute-force psychological hammer when abusing the mind of an 8-year-old” (http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2012/01/16/a-little-comparative-religion-would-do-ken-ham-a-world-of-good/).

And even Bill Nye, though he did not use the phrase “child abuse,” made the point that parents who teach their children creationism teach them to live in “inconsistent” worlds and destroy their hopes for a “scientifically literate” future (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHbYJfwFgOU). This is all clear evidence of a culture that willingly suppresses the truth of God’s Word.

Consider the following points:

1. From my experience, I would say that probably most (if not all) of these secularists who accuse Christians, particularly creationists, of “child abuse” would support abortion. According to the National Right to Life, which pulled statistics from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the Guttmacher Institute, there have been 54,559,615 abortions in the United States alone since Roe v. Wade in 1973. These secularists support the killing of these children by abortion (which is a shocking child abuse), but they accuse Christians of child abuse who raise children to trust God’s Word.
2. Secularists (like Bill Nye) want to teach generations of children that they are just animals in an evolutionary process—thus there is no purpose and meaning in life except what one wants to make it to be.
3. Secularists use terms like “child abuse” more and more in the hope that eventually, as the old adage says something like, “If you throw enough mud, some will stick.” The more they use the term “child abuse,” the more they hope Christians will be considered dangerous. It’s all part of the anti-Christian agenda we see permeating the culture in our age.
4. Secularists want to indoctrinate your children, and they are becoming increasingly intolerant of Christians and the Christian faith. The secularists want your children!

The newly updated and revised edition of my book The Lie: Evolution/Millions of Years (available in October) deals with this issue of those who, like these secularists, want children to be taught atheistic evolution and  “suppress” the truth of God’s Word. Below is an excerpt that I think is very appropriate in this case:

People often make the statement, “If there is so much evidence that God created the world and sent a global cataclysmic flood, then surely all scientists would believe this.” The solution is given here in 2 Peter 3. It is not simply a matter of providing evidence to convince people, for people do not want to be convinced. We read in Romans 1:20 that there is enough evidence to convince everyone that God is Creator, so much so that we are condemned if we do not believe. Furthermore, Romans 1:18 tells us that men “suppress the truth in unrighteousness.”

It is not a matter of lack of evidence to convince people that the Bible is true; the problem is that they do not want to believe the Bible. The reason for this is obvious. If people believed in the God of the Bible, they would have to acknowledge His authority and obey the rules He has laid down. However, every human being suffers from the same problem — the sin that Adam committed in the Garden of Eden, a disease that we all inherit. Adam’s sin was rebellion against God’s authority. Likewise, people everywhere today are in rebellion against God, so to admit that the Bible is true would be an admission of their own sinful and rebellious nature and of their need to be born again by cleansing through the blood of Christ.

It is easy to see this willing ignorance in action when watching debates over the origins issue. In most cases, the evolutionists are not interested in the wealth of data, evidence, and information the creationists put forward. They usually try to attack creationists by attempting to destroy their credibility. They are not interested in data, logical reasoning, or any evidence that points to creation or refutes evolution because they are totally committed to their religious faith called evolution. . . . Modern geology tells us that there never was a global Flood as described in the Bible. We are told that millions of years of geological processes can explain the enormous fossil record in the sedimentary rock layers over the earth’s surface. However, creationists have shown that the fossil-bearing rock layers were produced by enormous catastrophic processes consistent with Noah’s Flood.³ But evolutionists refuse to accept this, for to do so would mean that the Bible is right, and thus the whole of their evolutionary philosophy would have to be rejected. These people are willingly ignorant about the facts that do not support their evolutionary ideas but do fit into a model of geology based upon what the Bible says concerning Noah’s Flood.

Don’t let the secularists get your children—they are aggressively going after them! Consider the following verses:

“And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.”  (Deuteronomy 6:6–7)

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord. (Psalms 127:3)

Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it. (Proverbs 22:6)

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken