After decades of strident anti-religious advocacy, the evolutionist Richard Dawkins recently clarified his views. In a 2024 interview,[1] Dawkins announced that he was a cultural Christian; he “feel[s] at home in the Christian ethos”. Dawkins expressed satisfaction with the decline of Christianity in the UK, but at the same time, warned that substituting this with any other religion would be “truly dreadful”.
What caused this change in positioning? We suspect that Dawkins is one of many people who are waking up to the strong correlation between the decline of Christianity and the emergence of an often bizarre and polarized society. The decline of Western Christianity is a complex topic, but the major contributors include a materialist worldview, capped by Neo-Darwinism, that filters out God; liberal theology that interprets the Bible as nothing more than mythology; and a moral shift to individualist existentialism. Notably, the first two of these dismiss a straightforward reading of the biblical origins account. In other words, the decline of Christianity is associated with loss of belief in a candid reading of the early chapters of Genesis, which contain the biblical origins account and have foundational significance for the Christian faith.
The origins debate has divided the Western church. It has not only pitted Christians against the irreligious, it has also acted as a wedge issue within the church, a situation that has lasted for more than 160 years. Late American Bible teacher John MacArthur coined a memorable phrase—the battle for the beginning—to describe this conflict. He used this phrase as the title for a book he authored in 2001 which defended a straightforward reading of Genesis.
For centuries, Christians have recognised that a correct understanding of the Genesis narrative must be broadly compatible with the ever-changing evidence of science. But how is this compatibility to be understood? Three major schools of thought within the church have emerged: theistic evolution, old-earth creation, and young-earth creation, each of which contains a range of competing views and opinions. The non-liberal members of each school bring their understanding of the Bible to the origins debate: they accept the authority of the Bible, while acknowledging that the Bible contains a variety of literary genres (such as historical narrative, song or poetry, and apocalyptic writing). In relation to Genesis, each camp acknowledges that the text contains literary constructs, such as the “chiasm” device of Genesis 1.[1]
Briefly, theistic evolution is the belief that God used evolutionary processes to create the diversity of life on earth. Some proponents have posited that Genesis 1 communicates theological truth in the genre of poetic language and consider the first chapter of Genesis to be non-historical. The late Pastor Timothy Keller was a supporter of this view; to his way of thinking, theistic evolution resolved the compatibility problem by giving secular origins science priority over a historical understanding of Genesis 1. Keller regarded his understanding of Genesis as tentative and subject to revision, and acknowledged that it led to another issue—how do we decide what parts of the Genesis account are historical narrative?[2]
Proponents of the old-earth camp accept that the universe has existed for the billions of years suggested by secular science. There are a number of frameworks in this camp, but the main objective is to achieve compatibility between the timespans of secular science and the Bible by interpreting Genesis 1 as encompassing “old ages”. This was a widely held position among evangelical Christians prior to the 1960s. Well-known Christian apologist and professor of mathematics John Lennox is a contemporary defender of old-earth theology.
The young-earth viewpoint, which we argue for in this book, accepts a “straightforward” reading of Genesis. This emphasizes Genesis 1–11 as historical narrative; the six days of creation and the global flood happened as written. Young earth creationists interpret Exodus 20:11 and 31:17 as strong evidence for the viewpoint of creation in six days, and phrases in Genesis 1 such as “evening came and then morning” (v. 8) as directly affirming that each day comprised 24 hours. Creationists seek to reinterpret scientific findings relevant to origins from a biblical perspective. The young-earth position is frequently referred to as “creationism” by both Christian and secular scholars.
This diversity of views within the church exists because no clear consensus has yet emerged among Christians about how to respond to secular origins science. This weakness impacts on the church’s credibility: if Christians cannot agree how to interpret of the very first chapter of the Bible, why should their other beliefs be taken seriously?
Further, from the viewpoint of many outside the church, Genesis 1 reads as a historical narrative that is incompatible with evolution. Richard Dawkins holds theistic evolution in contempt, regarding it as a “delusion” of “sophisticated” theologians. Darwinism, Dawkins claims, when correctly understood, is “deeply corrosive to religious faith”.[3] On the other hand, Dawkins has expressed grudging respect for young-earth creationism because he believes that of the three schools of thought, it is the most intellectually consistent.[4] For this reason, we regard a robust defence of young-earth creationism as one of the most powerful apologetics for Christianity in contemporary society. The purpose of this book is to equip the church to defend a Genesis-as-history interpretation.
Since the early nineteenth century, and even more so following the publication of Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species in 1859, the Christian church struggled to offer well-founded answers to issues raised by secular origins science. This left believers in an apparent quandary. How can the Bible be considered a source of truth in an age when science appears to refute its origins account?
The contemporary church is faced with a conundrum. Ignore the origins issue, and the pied piper of the secular worldview will, over time, draw youth away from the faith of their parents. On the other hand, if pastors try to tackle the issue, they will find themselves confronted with a complex multi-disciplinary field that takes considerable time and expertise to master—time that pastors may not have.
Understandably, many pastors adopt a cautious approach to this issue. Protestant seminaries and theological schools—as well as Catholic institutions—have for decades tended to espouse (or tolerate) theistic evolution. Their graduates appreciate how divisive the topic can be, and many prefer to de-emphasize this potential wedge issue. However, while downplaying biblical origins has helped to avoid open division, scientifically minded Christians continue to wrestle with the issue in private. Many are particularly concerned that the youth, exposed to evolutionary thought in compulsory schooling and at university, are leaving the broader church. The era of greying congregations and church closures is now well underway.
In the creationist camp, several non-denominational ministries have been active for several decades. These have made solid inroads into the essential task of harmonizing science with the Bible. Christians are now able to access a wide variety of high-quality material, much of it available freely online, which goes a long way towards defending the young-earth creationist perspective. Furthermore, these materials are suitable for a range of audiences, from school-aged children through to the technically informed. However, as laypeople approaching the topic for ourselves, we felt there was a gap. We could not find a book which served as a one-stop shop—providing a comprehensive, high-level introduction to the topic, including a discussion of the downstream effects of the evolutionary worldview.
This book is our attempt to fill that gap; it covers historical, theological, philosophical and scientific aspects to unravel the complexities of the debate. We have endeavored to write for the church at large, including those who are not necessarily of a scientific bent. Importantly, we hope this book will be useful to the pastors and Christian leaders whose congregations include individuals who read Genesis 1–2 as history.
The material presented in this volume could be helpful to others who are interested in the topic of origins. We encourage atheists, or adherents of non-Christian religions who wish to contrast the Christian origins account with their own beliefs, to read this book. In saying that, we note that Christianity is unique: it is not merely theistic, it is monotheistic and trinitarian (meaning that the one true God exists in three distinct Persons). One aim of this book is to draw out trinitarian theology as it relates to creation, an angle that non-Christian belief systems do not provide.
This book shows that the creationist position is stronger and more compatible with science than is commonly acknowledged. Further, we dispute the conventional view that contemporary secular origins science is secure. This has even been acknowledged by the secular camp. The late Sir Fred Hoyle, a non-Christian professor at Cambridge University, stated that the field of biology was used to mount a proxy war against traditional Christianity, and in the process became too ideological. The biologists, or “new believers” as he referred to them, had become “mentally ill”, resembling the traditionally religious (as Hoyle saw it) by displaying “intense conviction” and attachment to their own brand of dogma, all the while claiming to be impartial scientists.[6] We will demonstrate that Hoyle’s criticism of the ideology besetting some areas of biology is well founded; it has certainly stood the test of time.
The book comprises four parts. The first part sets out essential background that readers need to understand the material that follows. The second part rebuts and exposes the secular origins account, highlighting philosophical and scientific problems that remain unresolved, and in some cases cannot be resolved. In the third part, we analyze the biblical creation account (Genesis 1–11) from a young-earth creationist perspective and show why it makes sense. Our analysis is conducted partly through a biological lens, which provides a useful counterpoint to the secular origins account. Our main task here is to show that a straightforward reading of Genesis as history is both believable and compatible with science.
The fourth and final part reviews the current state and outlook for the Darwinian and creationist worldviews.
Several terms used in the book bear some clarification. We use the term Christian to mean a person who holds a Bible-based religious perspective and who seeks to obey Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Since this book is aimed at a wide audience, we define essential Bible-based beliefs as those consistent with the historic creeds and fundamentals, while accepting the importance and precision of various Confessions and Catechisms.[7]
Following from this, we define a non-Christian as a person who has a religious perspective which is not Christian. An anti-Christian is one whose religious perspective is antagonistic to Jesus Christ, Christian churches, Christian doctrine or the practice of Christian behaviors.
We use the word secularism to denote a religious perspective that seeks to banish organized religion from the public sphere. A secularist is one who manifests “indifference to or rejection or exclusion of religion and religious considerations”.[8]
The meaning of the term humanist has varied across time, but currently means “a doctrine, attitude, or way of life centered on human interests or values”.[9]
Combining these latter words gives secular humanism, a philosophy which typically incorporates naturalism, “the doctrine that scientific laws are adequate to account for all phenomena”.[10] Naturalism has an overlapping counterpart called materialism which holds that matter and energy are all there is and that all reality can be fully explained by physical laws describing how matter and energy operate.
We understand secular origins science to be research and investigation into the origin of the cosmos, life, and the diversity of living organisms, with the presupposition that naturalistic, non-purposeful causes are adequate to account for these processes.
We understand creationism to be research or investigation into the compatibility between science and a straightforward reading of Genesis (sometimes called young-earth creationism (YEC) or six-day creationism) underpinned by the presupposition that the Bible is infallible. Creationism covers the origin of the cosmos and life in all its diversity. It intersects many scientific disciplines such as archaeology, paleontology, biology, cosmology and physics, as well as other disciplines such as history, philosophy, linguistics and theology.
Finally, we unapologetically use the biblical terms man and mankind where appropriate, rather than the gender-neutral terms which are more commonly used today. We understand this choice of language is countercultural. But it’s biblical and is eminently suitable for a book which is primarily concerned with the restoration of biblical ideas.
Graeme: A brief word on who we are and how this book came to be written. Both Geoffrey and I are Christians who have long maintained an interest in the origins controversy, with our own stance firmly allied with the many teachers and preachers who believe Genesis was intended to be read as history in a straightforward manner. Around the time of the Covid pandemic, I became interested in a fascinating calculation presented by creationist writer Jonathan Sarfati in his book By Design.[11] Sarfati showed how it was possible to calculate the total number of atomic interactions that can ever have taken place in the observable universe (assuming the universe’s age to be 13.8 billion years), then demonstrated that this astronomical number was manifestly inadequate to account for the emergence of life by random means.[12] Intrigued as to whether this argument could be developed further into a comprehensive rebuttal of the orthodox scientific origins account, I contacted my twin brother Geoff and sought his views. I figured that Geoff’s knowledge of biology, gained from his university studies, would come in handy; my own studies in mechanical engineering would only be useful up to a point. As we walked along the beach at Queensland’s Gold Coast discussing these things, it was apparent that Geoff shared my interest. A project was born.
With drafting underway, it became clear that Geoff’s intellectual interests beyond biology were going to come in handy too. An eclectic range of books lined his shelves: the physics lectures of Richard Feynman, Charles Norris Cochrane on Christianity and Classical Culture, and many more besides. In fact, this book has been informed by myriad ideas from a range of authors, spanning both generalists and specialists, and Christian and non-Christian.
It also became apparent that Geoff and I had complementary skillsets; this was a team effort that neither he nor I, working individually, could have completed. Ultimately, writing this book proved to be difficult and demanding—but we believe that God opened the right doors at the right time to allow us to bring the project to completion.
One of the most important learnings we took away from this project is that for serious progress to be made in the scientific understanding of Christian origins, a community approach is required. The ability to discuss and test ideas in the context of a competent network is crucial, so much so that anyone who weighs into the origins debate single-handedly—whether a pastor, seminary professor or other learned member of the church—runs the considerable risk of presenting material reflective of their scientific, theological or philosophical blind spots. The fact that we teamed up was a step in the right direction. But it wasn’t enough, and on that note, we’d like to thank our reviewers, without whose frank advice this book would not have been worthy of publication. Our review team, which possessed, in sum, an almost encyclopedic knowledge of the origins debate, was an essential sounding board.
But as much as our reviewers have assisted us, we must take ultimate responsibility for the content: if there are any errors in this book, they are our own. We would like to thank and acknowledge Scott Thomson, Gary Weston, the late Russell Grigg, Benno Zuiddam, and others who reviewed our book anonymously. Last but certainly not least, we also thank our families for their support throughout this project.
It is our prayer that this book influences the church and its institutions toward a deeper understanding of origins accounts, and a more powerful Christian apologetic to the unchurched. In turn, we hope this convinces the broader society of the compelling case for putting one’s faith in the biblical Creator, Jesus Christ (John 1:3).
Graeme Messer
Geoffrey Messer
Brisbane, 2025
[1] Jordan, James B. (1999). Creation in Six Days: A Defense of the Traditional Reading of Genesis One. Moscow, ID: Canon Press, pp. 211–218.
[2] See biologos.org/articles/creation-evolution-and-christian-laypeople
[3] See youtube.com/watch?v=VxGMqKCcN6A, from 4:27 to 4:57.
[4] See youtube.com/watch?v=BAbpfn9QgGA
[5] MacArthur, J. (2001) The Battle for the Beginning: Creation, Evolution, and the Bible. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, p. 18.
[6] Hoyle, F. (1999). Mathematics of Evolution. Memphis: Acorn Enterprises LLC, pp. 3–4.
[7] Example of ancient creeds include the Apostles Creed (circa 200 AD), the Nicene Creed (325 AD) and the Creed of Chalcedon (451 AD). A more contemporary statement is the “Five Fundamentals” of 1910 (General Assembly, 2018) which lists the inerrancy of scripture, the virgin birth, the substitutionary atonement of Christ along with His bodily resurrection and the reality of Christ’s miracles as non-negotiable. These latter beliefs distinguish a so-called “Christian fundamentalist”, or more simply—a Christian. Other statements of belief are more detailed and complex—the Westminster Confession (1647) is of longstanding importance in the Anglosphere, while the Belgic Confession (1561) is important in the Dutch Reformed tradition.
[8] “Humanism.” Merrian-Webster.com Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. Accessed July 5, 2025 from merriam-webster.com/dictionary/humanism
[9] “Secularism.” Merrian-Webster.com Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. Accessed July 5, 2025 from merriam-webster.com/dictionary/secularism
[10] “Naturalism.” Merrian-Webster.com Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. Accessed July 5, 2025 from merriam-webster.com/dictionary/naturalism
[11] Sarfati, J. (2008). By Design. Powder Springs GA: Creation Book Publishers, p. 159.
[12] Our investigation of Sarfati’s calculation is presented in Chapter 10.