Faith is alive, even amongst the non-religious

Did God create man or did man evolve from the ape? The answer is the subject of heated argument during Darwin Year 2009.

This year marks the two hundredth anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, father of evolutionary theory. During this commemorative Darwin year the argument between the religious and the non-religious, between creationists (“On the sixth day God created man in his own image and likeness”) and evolutionists (“Man is descended from the ape”) has flared up visibly. The existence of God is being called into question on British buses and 6 million Dutch households will soon receive a brochure in the mail that raises questions about evolutionary theory.

“It is funny to see how alive faith evidently is,” says sociologist Abram de Swaan. “One of the most dangerous mental disorders is after all to interpret a text like the Bible literally. But that also occurs among the non-religious, in Marxism or National Socialism for instance.”

Atheist buses

In the United Kingdom the confirmed atheist and evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion, kicked off the debate. 500 British buses are now driving around with the slogan There is probably no God/ Now stop worrying and enjoy your life. When asked for a reaction a passer-by shrugged and told the BBC: “I have seen worse things on buses.” In Spain there are buses with slogans supporting God, as well as ones with slogans denying the existence of God.

In the Netherlands three humanist organisations have raised 5,000 euros for a similar campaign. There is little chance however that there will soon be buses driving around the Netherlands with the text Er is waarschijnlijk geen God. Durf zelf te denken. En geniet van dit leven! [There probably is no God. Dare to think for your self. And enjoy this life!]. The company that handles about 75 percent of the advertising on buses and about half of the bus shelters has not given its permission.

According to the marketing director this is a case of a “fierce religious statement” that could be “offensive” to the public. “Our guideline is: no religious texts on our buses and bus shelters.” The initiator of the bus campaign, philosopher Floris van den Berg, is now looking for other outlets for his campaign. “If necessary we will work with advertising planes.”

Church and state

For Dap Hartmann, astronomer at technical university in Delft and a member of the campaign's recommendation committee, the playful initiative does in fact have a serious undertone. “It is worrying that religion is on the up and up. We have a left-wing-Christian government that is once again putting abortion and euthanasia up for discussion. That has to do with the rise of Islam: Christians want to take back the floor. Parliament wants to abolish the law on blasphemy, but the government is preventing this. For us humanists the separation of church and state is sacred, but God is gradually creeping back in. If Balkenende practises his religion in his capacity as prime minister, that puts me on edge. Dawkins says it nicely: 'Don’t bother us with your imaginary friends!'”

Concern for this dividing line between church and state flared up on another occasion not too long ago when education minister at the time Maria van der Hoeven (Christian Democratic Party, CDA - now the minister for economic affairs) suggested in 2005 that Intelligent Design, a somewhat more sophisticated version of creationism, should receive attention in school curricula, alongside evolution. Proponents of ID believe that parts of the universe and life can best be explained as the creation of an ‘intelligent designer,’ without specifying the nature of this designer.

Plastic foetus

In the meantime the other side is not idling. Six million Dutch households will soon receive an eight-page brochure entitled Evolution or Creation – what do you believe?. The brochure is an initiative of a few organisations of the strict Dutch Reformed persuasion, including a publisher and anti-abortion organisation Schreeuw om Leven [Scream for Life]. This latter organisation recently drew attention with another initiative: the dissemination of plastic dolls resembling a 10-week old foetus as part of its efforts to fight abortion. This created a commotion in parliament. The Dutch Labour party (PvdA) called it “spiritual trespassing.”

The brochure claims that science is nothing more than another form of faith. “It cannot be technically proven whether man appeared on earth as the result of evolution or creation.” But the Bible in any event gives answers to important life questions. It is your choice, according to the brochure, which spokesperson Kees van Helden says is emphatically directed at ordinary people. “Science will never say we are right. But we want a discussion and we have already achieved that.”

“If evolutionary theory is correct,” says Van Helden, “then death is just death. But imagine that there is in fact a heaven and a hell. If I die, I don’t have anything to worry about. But you will be in for a surprise!”

Fundamentalists

The creationists’ campaign has already provoked a counter-reaction. Anyone who does not want to receive the brochure can put a sticker on their mailbox with the text “No to creationism, Yes to Darwin.” The sticker resembles the sticker that Dutch households can put on their mailbox to indicate that they do not want any unsolicited advertising material. “Mailboxes with “No” stickers will not be given the brochure,” says Van Helden.

Raising money for the brochure (250,000 euros) was not a problem. Some 7,500 letters were sent out to ministers of various Dutch Reformed congregations. The request: remember us in your prayers and send around the collection box.

Abram de Swaan calls creationism “muddleheaded-ness” and is surprised that there are still politicians who play with the idea. “Evolutionary theory does not explain everything, not by a long shot, but in any event it explains much more than creationism. That doesn’t give a single answer.” But modesty also becomes the atheist. The only real danger is fundamentalists, and those you find among the religious and non-religious alike. De Swaan says the commotion surrounding the controversial British bishop Richard Williamson, a Holocaust-denier who was nevertheless restored to the pope’s favour, is an excellent test case for the degree of religious foolishness in the world. “Williamson is a fanatic and a blind fundamentalist. But his atonement created enormous resistance even inside the Vatican. Apparently that is being corrected.”

Incidentally De Swaan thinks the bus campaign is pointless as well. “I am too non-religious to make a fuss about atheism. But the fact that people muse about the question why they are on earth, that I take seriously.”