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Deconstructing Darwin—full steam ahead!

The world is starting to take notice in the “year of Darwin”

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Newspapers have been picking up on the church’s response to this Darwin year.
A local newspaper captures CMI’s Richard Fangrad and Dr Emil Silvestru in action.

During 2009 atheist and humanist groups are celebrating Darwin’s birthday and their belief that evolution explains life without God. To counter this CMI offices all over the world are working to equip Christians to answer sceptics attack on the Bible and to boost and share their faith.

The vision

CMI Canada’s Dr Emil Silvestru (suggested a world class documentary re-tracing Darwin’s voyage, for release in 2009, to counteract the inevitable evolutionary hype from sceptics. Soon after, CMI Canada had a vision for major CMI events and conferences that would assist Christians in countering Bible critics as well.

It seemed like a perfect opportunity. We knew it was coming and rather than watching the inevitable fallout from churches that such periodic anti-Christian attacks like the Da Vinci Code or The Lost Tomb of Jesus usually produce, we decided to contact larger churches that would be willing and capable of hosting such events to prepare Christians for the inevitable. Darwin’s bicentennial and the 150th anniversary release of Origin of Species were sure to set off a firestorm of anti-God and pro-evolution celebrations and activities, so why not face it head on?

The wave

A local newspaper captures CMI’s Richard Fangrad and Dr Emil Silvestru in action.
Newspapers have been picking up on the church’s response to this Darwin year.

Sure enough, many pro-evolution documentaries for release in 2009 are planned, talk of establishing “Darwin Day” (as a holiday on par with Christmas) has begun, many news outlets have reported on the “There is probably no God” advertising campaigns in England, Canada and the US. Nature launched a special issue featuring Darwin, his science and his legacy. The Natural History Museum in London, UK, dedicated a website promoting a national program of events celebrating his scientific ideas. Museums, universities and science organizations are networking globally to promote Darwin through exhibitions, lectures and conferences.

Events are planned in dozens of countries including the USA, United Kingdom, Australia, China, South Korea, Portugal, Germany, Egypt and Hong Kong. Stanford University, California, will fly 90 “pilgrims” along the route of Darwin’s Beagle voyage. Even art exhibitions and music festivals are featuring paintings, sculpture and orchestral works praising Darwin and evolution.

Even more sadly, a self-avowed atheist Michael Zimmerman (US) is canvassing and enlisting the support of churches around the world to endorse evolution and celebrate Darwin for an evolution weekend, and thousands of churches have or will participate!

Obviously, a faith-funded Christian ministry like CMI cannot hope to compete head-to-head with publicly-funded programs like many mentioned above, but God does use the faithful in promoting His word.

The results (so far!)

Already, approximately 1700 people have attended one of our Canadian 2–day Deconstructing Darwin (DD) conferences, and the majority and largest of conferences are still to come! All of this is in addition to hundreds of others reached through our “regular” and ongoing ministry events and tours! One of the conferences that was broadcast live online from TheStreamTV.com (which potentially reached thousands more all around the world) elicited comments like this;

“God bless CMI and the Stream TV for making available a Deconstructing Darwin conference online free for all to watch. After having recently completed watching all the seminars, I want to say Emil, Richard, Calvin, and Jeff had stellar presentations. I want to commend you for standing on the authority of the Word of God when answering questions, and starting from Scripture.” —David K.

After a recent conference in Kingston, Ontario a young man came forward and said that he had been attending church since he was 4 years old, and “ … after the last 2 days I have never been so confident and encouraged in my faith as a Christian!”

A Canadian organization promoting their own events to celebrate Charles Darwin’s birthday.
A Canadian organization promoting their own events to celebrate Charles Darwin’s birthday.

This is only one of many such comments our speakers have heard; the “buzz” at these meetings has been tremendous. The secular press and radio stations have interviewed our speakers to get in on the excitement generated by these conferences (see pictures). Many pastors and church leaders have attended and given positive feedback. Connections to churches that have never been exposed to the creation message before have been established.

The future

One of the advertising leaflets for CMI’s Deconstructing Darwin events in the same town.
One of the advertising leaflets for CMI’s Deconstructing Darwin events in the same town.

The requests for Deconstructing Darwin conferences for 2009 have already exceeded our capacity to fulfil! Most of our international offices are reporting a similar phenomenon. So, in Canada, we have started booking into 2010 and will continue throughout next year for those communities that are willing to host an event. We anticipate continued interest as we add screenings of our new Darwin Film documentary into the conference schedules. With the world experiencing one of the most intense periods of evolutionary indoctrination, Christians will undoubtedly be hungry for answers for years to come.

Please continue to pray that these events will embolden Christians and ultimately that God will use the information to draw people into His kingdom. Also, if there is a conference in your area bring others with you; you may be amazed at what God will do! (One pastor reported a dramatic increase in his young adult program after many attended a Deconstructing Darwin event hosted at their church.)


Published: 17 March 2009

Helpful Resources

The Big Argument: Does God Exist?
by John Ashton, Michael Westacott
US $15.00
Soft cover