So states high profile atheist Richard Dawkins in the first chapter of his latest book, The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution.
The author of The God Delusion then goes on to claim that “the evidence for evolution is at least as strong as the evidence for the Holocaust . . . It is the plain truth that we are the cousins of chimpanzees, somewhat more distant cousins of monkeys, more distant cousins still of aardvarks and manatees, yet more distant cousins of bananas and turnips — continue the list as long as desired.”
The publisher’s introduction calls Dawkins’ book “a stunning counterattack on advocates of ‘Intelligent Design’ … exposing the absurdities of the creationist ‘argument.'” It asserts that evolution “is accepted as scientific fact by all reputable scientists, and indeed theologians.
One scientist who begs to differ is Jonathan Sarfati. The chemist and author, who works with Creation Ministries International, is finishing a tour of Canada — whose purpose has been to challenge the credibility of Dawkins’ views.
Sarfati is also promoting his recently published book, The Greatest Hoax on Earth? Refuting Dawkins on Evolution. In his introduction, he gives his opponent mixed reviews, stating: “Dawkins writes in a lucid style. He throws in much informative material from real science which keeps the reader interested; but this is mixed with many speculations, and not a few diversionary indulgences — e.g. creationist-bashing. His overall message is, however, anything but inspiring: we are robots programmed by DNA to replicate more copies of that DNA.”The author recently spoke to CC.com about the state of the debate on the issue of life’s origins.
As he toured the country, he said, he shared his beliefs with a handful of secular professors and students — but he noted that his main target audience were Christians. Many believers, he said, are afraid of the evolution/creationism debate — because they don’t know how to defend their stance.
“They’re only taught evolution, and are intimidated by science,” said Sarfati. He said the mission of his tour was to educate Christians, so that they would then have the knowledge to educate others.