When Richard Dawkins wrote that his discovery of evolution had enabled him to be an 'intellectually fulfilled atheist', many Christians believed him. But Dawkins's inference is, I think, misplaced.
There is a strong tradition of evangelical Christian scientists, of whom I am one, stretching in a long lineage back to many of Darwin's contemporaries, who are happy to absorb Darwinian evolutionary theory into the biblical doctrine of creation. This was the stance taken by several writers who contributed to the Funda-mentals (1910-15)1, it was the position taken by many of the IVF (now UCCF) evangelical leaders amongst whom I was nurtured as a student during the 1960s (Oliver Barclay, Sam Berry, Donald MacKay, Robert Boyd and many others)2 and it continues to be the perspective taken today by a large number of evangelical scientists.
So how has the notion arisen that Darwinian theory is intrinsically atheistic? The answer, I would suggest, is because the ideas and scope of evolutionary theory are frequently misunderstood by Christian non-biologists, whereas atheists on their part often have little knowledge of the biblical doctrine of creation. My purpose here is to provide a resume and critique of these misunderstandings.
