The following was submitted as a school assignment.
The
United States was originally founded by a religious people seeking to flee tyranny
and religious persecution. Throughout most of her 243 years, America was
recognized as a Christian country where people practiced many of the religion’s
different denominations. While Christians still make up seventy percent (Pew
Research Center) of the population there is a disturbing trend where Americans
are turning to atheism instead of God. Over the past twenty years the number of
people in the United States claiming to be atheist has jumped from only
eighteen percent to thirty-four percent. (McFarland) This will have
consequences for liberty because the nation was founded on the idea that a
religious and moral people can self-govern (John Adams Center) and that the
natural liberties defined in the Bill of Rights are unalienable and granted to
us by our creator. With more and more of the population growing into adulthood
devoid of belief in a divine being, the definition of freedom and the value we
place on human life is sure to change.
Writing
for Psychology Today, Nigel Barber Ph.D. suggests that atheism is a phenomenon
occurring mostly in large industrialized societies. Religion was often turned
to as a means of getting people through hard and uncertain times. (Barber)
Today’s modern society, however, provides many safety nets. In many ways, the
state has replaced religion in the sense that people facing difficult
circumstances often have their problems solved by turning to government welfare
programs. (Barber) Modern medicine is also contributing to the rise in atheism
as people are finding relief to their anxiety in psychiatric pills and
psychoanalysis instead of spiritual healing. (Barber) In this sense psychology
is replacing religion. This is a dangerous trend because psychology itself is
based on the premise that man’s behavior can be controlled as some
psychologists believe we are devoid of a will of our own. Psychologists have
thoroughly studied human behavior for the purposes of establishing systems of
control. (Carrette & King, 60)
A
common theme among religious people is that God gave us free will. Galatians 13
clearly states God’s intentions for us for us to freely choose between good and
evil. “You, my brothers and sister were called to be free. Do not use your
freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.”
Psychologists such as B.F. Skinner refute the idea of free will by claiming
that the manipulation of the environment can control human behavior. This is
called operant conditioning. In the book “Beyond Freedom and Dignity” Skinner
mocks the idea of man having the inner capacity to solve the problems we face
as a society. Only through what he refers to as a “science of behavior” can
human behavior be changed. (Skinner, 15) Skinners views are largely influenced
by the theories of evolution as he viewed human behavior as not being in our
own control, but the result of evolutionary processes.
"In what we may call the pre-scientific view
(and the word is not necessarily pejorative) a person's behavior is at least to
some extent his own achievement. He is free to deliberate, decide, and act,
possibly in original ways, and he is to be given credit for his successes and
blamed for his failures. In the scientific view (and the word is not
necessarily honorific) a person’s behavior is determined by a genetic endowment
traceable to the evolutionary history of the species and by the environmental
circumstances to which as an individual he has been exposed. Neither view can
be proved, but it is in the nature of scientific inquiry that the evidence
should shift in favor of the second. (Skinner,
101)
In
this quote Skinner is completely rejecting the idea of free will as an
explanation for human behavior and instead, attributing it to environmental
circumstances and the evolutionary history of our species. By suggesting that
further study of human behavior be conducted from what he referred to as the
scientific era of human understanding, he is advancing the idea that man is not
responsible for his actions. This is the anti-thesis of traditional Christian
thought and could have dire consequences for the future of humanity.
The
education system, teaching the theory of evolution as the premise for human
origins, could also be contributing largely to the growth of atheism in
America. Highly educated nations tend to have higher rates of non-believers
(Barber) than poor third world countries.
Darwin’s
theory of evolution of course posits the idea that man is not of divine origins
but evolved from apes and other primates; meaning we have no special
significance and are no different than other animals. Darwin, having been
raised a Christian later concluded that the Book of Genesis as an explanation
for human beginnings was essentially false.
By further reflecting that the clearest evidence would be
requisite to make any sane man believe in the miracles by which Christianity is
supported,—that the more we know of the fixed laws of nature the more
incredible do miracles become,—that the men at that time were ignorant and
credulous to a degree almost incomprehensible by us,—that the Gospels cannot be
proved to have been written simultaneously with the events,—that they differ in
many important details, far too important as it seemed to me to be admitted as
the usual inaccuracies of eye-witnesses;—by such reflections as these, which I
give not as having the least novelty or value, but as they influenced me, I
gradually came to disbelieve in Christianity as a divine revelation. (Darwin,
86)
Darwin’s evolution theory also came to be the predominant
worldview of atheistic communists, such as Joseph Stalin and Vladimir Lenin who
used the idea of man’s descension from animals as opposed to God as
justification for mass suppression of human rights and dignity. (Bergman 89-95)
The view that man is no different than any other animal led to the mass
termination of millions under atheistic, communist regimes.
As American society grows increasingly secular and atheism gains
in popularity, is it possible that we could face such a loss of value for human
life that led to such atrocities? Is there a correlation between atheism and
the problems we see in society today? With the study of human behavior focusing
on the manipulation of the environment, the idea that man cannot control his
behavior and the prevalence of Darwinism as the explanation for human origins,
the answer seems to be a resounding yes. Psychology and Darwinism are examples
of men’s false doctrines seeking to answer questions and solve problems beyond
man’s limited understanding. The Bible clearly warns of these false teachings
of men and the dangers of turning from God.
“See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty
deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the
world, and not according to Christ.” Colossians 2:8
Bergman,
J. The Darwinian foundations of communism. The Journal of Creation. 15 (1)
2001. 89-95 Retrieved from https://creation.com/images/pdfs/tj/j15_1/j15_1_89-95.pdf
Barber,
N. Why atheism will replace religion. Psychology Today. May 18, 2010.
Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-human-beast/201005/why-atheism-will-replace-religion
Carrette,
J & King, R. Selling Spirituality: The silent takeover of religion. New
York. Routledge, 2005 Retrieved from http://www.urbanlab.org/articles/religion/Carrette%20King%202005%20-%20Selling%20Spirituality.pdf
Darwin,
C. The autobiography of Charles Darwin (with
original omissions restored, edited with appendix and notes by his
grand-daughter Nora Barlow) London, 1958. Retrieved from http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?viewtype=text&itemID=F1497&pageseq=1
John Adams Center. Our constitution was made
only for a moral and religious people. http://johnadamscenter.com/why-john-adams/
McFarland, A. Atheism on the rise? Growth of disbelief
signals danger for America. CNSnews.com April 17, 2015. https://www.cnsnews.com/commentary/alex-mcfarland/atheism-rise-growth-disbelief-signals-danger-america-0
Pew Research Center Religious land scape study. https://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/
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