The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, might be the most significant literal work in the annals of recorded history. Sir Julian Huxley called the evolutionary dogma it spawned "the most powerful and most comprehensive idea that has ever arisen on earth."
Harvard scientist Ernst Mayr said that the Darwinian revolution of 1859 was "perhaps the most fundamental of all intellectual revolutions in the history of mankind." Likewise, Dr. Michael Denton points out that the far-reaching effects of Darwinian dogma ignited an intellectual revolution more significant than the Copernican and Newtonian Revolutions. He goes on to say, The triumph of evolution meant the end of the traditional belief in the world as a purposeful created order- the so-called teleological outlook which had been predominant in the western world for two millennia. According to Darwin, all the design, order and complexity of life and the eerie purposefulness of living systems were the results of simple blind random process- natural selection. Before Darwin, men had believed a providential intelligence had imposed its mysterious design upon nature, but now chance ruled supreme. God's will was replaced by the capriciousness of a roulette wheel. The break with the past was complete.
It would be impossible to overstate the significance of Darwinian evolution. As Denton underscores, the twentieth century cannot be comprehended apart from the intellectual revolution the theory produced:
The social and political currents which have swept the world in the past eighty years would have been impossible without its intellectual sanction. It is ironic to recall that it was the increasingly secular outlook in the nineteenth century which initially eased the way for the acceptance of evolution, while today it is perhaps the Darwinian view of nature more than any other is responsible for the agnostic and skeptical outlook of the twentieth century. What was once a deduction from materialism has today become its foundation.
In the light of this unprecedented impact of Darwinian dogma, it would be reasonable to expect it to be solidly rooted in truth. In reality, evolution is rooted in metaphysical contentions and mythological tales. Denton aptly summed up this sentiment when he termed the Darwinian theory of evolution "the great cosmogenic myth of the twentieth century."
The far-reaching consequences of this cosmogenic myth can be felt in "virtually every field-every area of practice." The most significant consequence however, is that it undermines the very foundation of Christianity. If indeed evolution is reflective of the laws of science, then Genesis must be reflective of flaws of Scripture. And if the foundation of Christianity is flawed, the superstructure is destined to fall. Noted atheist G. Richard Bozarth understood this full well when he penned the following words:
Christianity is-must be!-totally committed to the special creation as described in Genesis and Christianity must fight with its full might, fair or foul, against the theory of evolution....It becomes clear now that the whole justification of Jesus' life and death is predicated on the existence of Adam and the forbidden fruit he and Eve ate. Without the original sin, who needs to be redeemed? Without Adam's fall into a life of constant sin terminated by death, what purpose is there to Christianity? None.... What this all means is that Christianity cannot lose the Genesis account of creation like it could lose the doctrine of geocentricism and get along. The battle must be waged, for Christianity is fighting for its very life.
While Bozarth predicated the demise of Christianity without Genesis, he might just as well have predicted the demise of civilization without God. Friedrich Nietzsche, who provided the philosophical framework for Hitler's Germany, understood this better than most. Thus, he predicted that the death of God in the nineteenth century would ensure that the twentieth century would be the bloodiest century in human history.