The Darwinian view has easily seen off the creationists, who to my mind have failed to notice the allegorical nature of the Genesis story. By this I mean that the story of the beginning of the world and the Garden of Eden is not a physics and biology lesson but rather a psycho-spiritual one.
Those who believe that the origin of human existence is a spiritual Life Source are aware however that science firmly favours Darwin's evolutionary theory, which is based on natural selection and chance factors in reproduction. Survival of the fittest means all human beings together with all animal life have descended from some one primordial form. Science it seems has no room for spiritual ideas such as a purposeful human creation.
Some modern theologians see the first few chapters in Genesis as a symbolic representation of the origin and dynamic development of the human psyche and its consciousness in relation to its Source; an ageless model of each of us created in the image and likeness of God. Thus arguably the Garden of Eden is a picture of the state of trust in and obedience to God and the fall of humanity into reliance on self-intelligence and self-orientation.
To my way of thinking the Bible as a whole, if inwardly understood, shows the spiritual journey of humanity returning to a state of innocence. We have a tree of life in the first book Genesis and in the last book Revelation, both I think representing the reality seen through the depths of one's spirit. Understanding about life.
According to this view trust in the Source is not one based on ignorance but is one with rational understanding - no blind faith but rather a realistic perception about meaning and purpose that takes into account all our understanding about life as a whole.
Are not more people these days rejecting the traditional superstitions and dogmas of religion? Are people more likely to want their spiritual intuition to be confirmed by rational discussion? Only the creationist will assume scripture is always literally true. I am arguing that people want answers to life's issues informed by scientific education and the reasoning of common sense, as well as by spiritual knowledge and insight.
When theological doctrines such as creationism are seen to lack realistic sense, then I guess religion will start to be side-lined by those who use their rational minds.
Likewise when scientific theoretical concepts appear unlinked to the results of research then even to scientists they will seem more like fantasy than reality.
I notice that likewise some scientists claim that random processes created human life rather than any creative design. Is this not because there can be no scientific instruments to observe purpose and meaning? And because science is limited by its assumption that knowledge is limited to natural things like fossils and genes? I can't imagine how there might be any scientific proof that science is the only means of acquiring valid knowledge.
Despite the victory of Darwinism over creationism, it is hard to see how adaption from something like a single cell through natural selection can give an account for the development of human self-reflection, courage, honesty, ethical insight, ideology, altruism, and resistance to temptation. This is not to deny the truth about the facts of nature that science can reveal but to acknowledge the deeper side of human life revealed inwardly to those of a spiritual bent. To my mind, human consciousness derives from the human soul absent in other forms of life.
"Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind." Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
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