AiG — Accused of “Prevarication!”

In a recent hostile e-mail to Answers in Genesis, an AiG critic has accused the ministry of “tedious prevaricating”. In a very condescending manner, Thomas F. claimed that AiG falsely teaches that Charles Darwin influenced the content of The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx-and yet the Manifesto was written about 10 years before Darwin’s 1859 On the Origin of Species he also declared that we had attacked the Christian character of the famous Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard.

Actually, we have never stated these things! We are not sure how our accuser came up with these charges-perhaps it was because he misunderstood a recent ad on our Web site that promoted the book Seven Men who Rule the World from the Grave. In that ad (and in other places on the Web), we state that Darwin indeed had an impact on Marx, and also that Kierkegaard had a negative influence on Western society.

First, we have never said that the Manifesto; was explicitly influenced by Darwin! Rather, we have referred to the influence Darwin had on Das Kapital published in 1867 by Marx.

Kierkegaard was a famous 19^th-century philosopher and Christian thinker. Although AiG would not want to question the man’s Christian commitment (he appeared to be devout), he (perhaps unwittingly) was the founder of the existentialist movement. Kierkegaard certainly considered himself a Christian, and even wrote of having had a transforming religious experience while a young person.

Many 20^th-century atheists like Camus and Sartre, however, embraced Kierkegaard’s fledgling existentialism (which has been described this way: “the only right is what is right for you, and the only wrong is that which produces pain or inconvenience for you….whatever is your thing, do it. 1 ). Kierkegaard’s teachings were foundational to their “do your own thing” humanistic/atheistic beliefs, which in turn influenced the Western world to increasingly reject the Bible, its absolutes, and even God Himself.

It is ironic that Thomas F. who accuses AiG of prevarication did not get his facts right. At the same time, it appears that he may just be misinformed or has jumped to a conclusion-we all have built-in biases. Because of a built-in bias against us, his false charges may have not been intentional.