Church-Sponsored Evolution Camp

It should come as no surprise. According to the News-Leader website, a Unitarian Church (which certainly does not hold to the fundamentals of Christianity) sponsored an “Evolution Camp” for children.

I must admit I was shocked to read (if it is true)  that an “Angela McCoy, who homeschools her son, Finn, 6, and is a member of a local Assembly of God church, volunteered as a teacher for Evolution Camp.” I know there are leaders in the Assembly of God denomination who accept evolution, but it’s a shock that a member of the AoG church is claimed to help at this camp sponsored by what is really nothing more than a secular (anti-Christian) institution—the Unitarian Church.

The article states, “It sounds a lot like a typical vacation Bible school, but there is a big difference. Instead of reading Bible stories about Adam and Eve, these kids are reading from ‘Big Bang’ and learning about evolution.”

After reading this quote above, I chuckled when I read the following:

Most of the kids who attended are not members of First UU. Some attend other churches; some don’t go to church; some are homeschooled; some are in public school. But all are there because they love science, and their parents are “freethinkers” who want their children to be exposed to a variety of viewpoints.

So they want their children exposed to a “variety of viewpoints”—as long as the Christian viewpoint is not a part of the program!

The article continues as follows:

After the lesson and the snacks, and a few minutes outside to run off some energy, the kids gathered back inside for guided meditation time before doing their craft project. Most of them lay on the floor, their eyes closed, while some sat cross-legged, their hands held in the basic mudra position — the thumb and forefinger forming a zero.

“Once you were only a speck, but you could not stay small,” Lara recited to one of the classes — the Andromeda Anteaters. “You grew and grew and grew until you were ready to leave the darkness. I too, had a special day when I was born. I am the universe. You were inside me from the very beginning, but not in human form. Like you, I started as a speck about 13 billion years ago. I was smaller than a piece of dust under your bed. I was bursting with wild and dazzling dreams of galaxies, stars and planets in radiant colors — bright yellow, molten red and piercing blue.”

Despite the quiet music and recitation, 7-year-old Idahlia Hethcoat could not contain her excitement.

“When the world started it kept getting bigger,” she declared after reading the first pages of “Big Bang: The Tongue Tickling Tale of a Speck that Became Spectacular” by Carolyn Cinami DeCristofano.

Now whenever I write about children coming to the teaching programs led by AiG speakers, or about children coming to the Creation Museum, we are sometimes accused by secularists of being “child abusers” and of brainwashing children. The reason for the secularists’ frequent outbursts is because they want to indoctrinate children in their worldview of atheism—and they are some of the most intolerant  people around. They only tolerate the views of people they agree with, and they really become intolerant not just of Christian views, but of Christians themselves!

The article quoted one of the mothers saying, “‘I want him to grow up knowing both paths so he can make his own decisions,’ she explained. ‘My job is to expose him.’”

Exposing the children to multiple views (except those of Christians) and training them to supposedly be open-minded so that they can decide for themselves seem to be a common theme these days.

As Christians, however, we are to “train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6). We must give our children a strong biblical foundation of truth and equip them with answers. Yes, we can show them the other views out there in the world, but we also must show them why they are false and why God’s Word is true.  We need to teach them clearly the difference between truth and error—between good and evil.   We are not doing our duty as Christians if we are not striving to train them up in the fear of the Lord (Psalm 34:11).

As you go through the article, you will also read this absurd claim:

Lara decided to run the camp because she feels that area schools tend to avoid talking about evolution in an effort not to offend anyone's religious beliefs.

While she insists that the program is “not trying to change anyone’s beliefs,” she does want to provide children with language they can use to defend their beliefs in science and evolution if they are “hassled” at school for those beliefs. Creation beliefs “can be used to bully other kids,” she said.

Frankly, what nonsense!  Evolution is basically taught as fact in most of the public education system—and it’s Christians and the teaching of creation that are discriminated against. There are some Christian teachers (and they are a small minority) who will do their best to teach students to think critically about origins—but by and large, most students are taught evolution as fact.

I believe secularists are so puzzled as to why it is that so many Americans still believe in creation, when there has been an intense attempt to indoctrinate people in evolution through the education system and the media (and sadly through compromising churches).

I believe organizations like AiG have had an incredible impact on families throughout this nation (and other parts of the world) as we disseminate information in various ways to help people know the truth of God’s Word beginning in Genesis.

Thanks for stopping by and this for praying,

Ken