The first alternative, Atheistic Evolution, may be defined as the theory that material forces alone can account for the existence of the Universe and of all life forms. Atheistic evolutionists believe that all we observe is the interaction of matter and energy; they regard the notion of a transcendent creative force as naïve wishful thinking and unnecessary to explain the cosmos. To them, evolution ultimately “explains” everything-the unfolding of this Universe over billions of years and the unfolding of molecules-to-man transformation of matter in “upwards” complexity. However appealing at a superficial level, this scenario starts to unravel when subjected to detailed analysis.
Agnostics are unsure about the existence of the transcendent God. Their question, “what came before God?” only pushes the idea of a First Cause back a further step, and so they are still open to persuasion that He does exist. But atheists deny His existence and some zealots seem intent on eradicating belief in God. The human originators of the concepts of Communism, Nazism, and Secular Humanism all appear to have been strongly motivated to reject God. Given the bad fruits resulting from militant promotion of Evolutionism, is it going too far to suggest that they were driven by hatred of God and their motivation was Satanically inspired?
Atheists are convinced of the “fact” of evolution, even though its supposed mechanism remains ever-missing. The “fact” of evolution is taken as a “given”; it must have occurred because the alternative belief in a Creator cannot be tolerated. Not surprisingly, atheists tend not to define “evolution” with precision. Walter ReMine shows in his book The Biotic Message that the very concept of evolution is elastic, capable of explaining almost anything one wishes to ascribe to it. He also argues that life-forms have been designed to look unlike evolution. For example, the platypus has a unique and fascinating combination of traits-where can it be placed in the evolutionary tree or bush? The cherished idea of natural selection is under increasing challenge since it tends only to conserve the existing; no truly new genetic information is actually gained. And “survival of the fittest” has been challenged as little more than tautology; it could also have been “survival of the luckiest” - the survivors were in the right place at the right time.
Some atheists, such as Stephen Hawking (ironically, a member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences), believe that there was no moment of Creation. Universes must unfold eternally one into another, perhaps via wormholes within black holes where time gets distorted. So an age of billions of years for this Universe is taken as a “given”, accepted as being beyond serious dispute. All this despite the fact that no-one has been able to figure out how the Solar System could have formed naturally, following the supposed Big Bang.