As a journalism student back in the 1970s, I spent every precious elective on history classes. My favorite subject was 20th century German history.

This coursework did some damage to my near-perfect grade-point average, because it meant studying under a professor who considered “C” an adequate reward for mastering the material. I knocked myself out for him, studying obsessively, and reading all the best books about that era – everything from Allan Bullock’s acclaimed Hitler: A Study in Tyranny to Albert Speer’s fascinating Inside the Third Reich.

Yet somehow, I don’t remember hearing much about the philosophy underlying Hitler’s attempt to exterminate the Jews. Maybe if I’d ever read Mein Kampf, I would have had a clue, but not one professor ever recommended it. Maybe they believed, with George Eliot, that cruelty requires no motive.

But Eliot was wrong, and I’m afraid my beloved professor was, too. The “why” of the Holocaust is critically important, both for evaluating our past errors and for doing everything possible to prevent another, perhaps even deadlier, catastrophe.

That’s why I so appreciated Hitler and the Nazi Darwinian Worldview: How the Nazi Eugenic Crusade for a Superior Race Caused the Greatest Holocaust in World History.  The latest work of Dr. Jerry Bergman, it is one of those books that explores what should be obvious – but, like the proverbial elephant in the room, is for some reason rarely discussed in polite company.  

Hitler and the Nazi Darwinian Worldview explains the inexplicable, makes sense out of the nonsensical, and reveals the thought that allowed the unthinkable to come to pass. It should be mandatory reading in college history classes. And it should top the reading list of anyone who understands that what we believe really does matter.

Dr. Bergman exhaustively documents his contentions about “doctrinaire Darwinist” Adolf Hitler – including this foundational premise:

"A central goal of Hitler and his government was the development and implementation of eugenics to produce a 'superior race,' often called the Aryan, Teutonic or Nordic race. At the very least, this goal required preventing the 'inferior races' from mixing with those judged superior in order to reduce contamination of the gene pool. Hitler believed that what we today recognize as the human gene pool could be improved by using selective breeding, similar to how farmers breed superior cattle."[i]

In the process, Dr. Bergman makes an airtight case that this was indeed the philosophy driving Hitler’s murderous machine – the philosophy that unfortunately “culminated in the Final Solution, the extermination of 6 million Jews and over 5 million Poles and others who belonged to what German scientists judged were ‘inferior races.’”[ii]

Acknowledging that there were many circumstances leading up to the Holocaust, Dr. Bergman points out that “Of the many factors that produced Hitler’s eugenic and genocidal [programs], according to his own writings, one of the more important was Darwin’s notion that evolutionary progress occurs primarily as a result of the elimination of the weak in the struggle for survival and allowing the strong to flourish ... Darwin-inspired eugenics clearly played a critical role.”[iii]

He then goes on to prove it, point by frightening point, in a book that’s both terrifying and compelling.  He uses excellent techniques to pull the reader through, for instance by foreshadowing what we’ll learn in subsequent chapters to give context to the subject at hand. And in addition to setting the stage generally, he provides up-close-and-personal analyses of Hitler’s most important and influential henchmen – Mengele, Bormann, Himmler, Goebbels, Göring, Heydrich, Rosenberg and Streicher.

Dr. Bergman closes his book with a weighty chapter titled “What can be learned from attempts to apply Darwinism to society.” This chapter alone is worth the cost of the book.

***
Hitler and the Nazi Darwinian Worldview is full of surprises. The margins of my copy are filled with exclamation points to highlight facts about, for instance, the German government subsidizing reproduction among “racially and biologically desirable” couples,[iv] perfecting its Lebensborn program to advance the breeding of the Nordic super-race,[v] and sponsoring mass kidnapping of “racially valuable” children.[vi]

Another recurring (and not at all surprising) theme was the enthusiastic support that members of the scientific establishment gave Hitler. Germany was known in the first part of the 20th century as the home of the most accomplished scientists in the world, including the majority of Nobel Laureates.  These were the experts who gave Hitler the scientific justification he needed to advance his horrific programs.

Noting that some Nazi scientists received accolades and awards long after the fall of the Third Reich, Dr. Bergman provides this chilling insight from Dr. Susanne Heim: “Scientists are highly vulnerable to intellectual and moral corruption – opportunities will be used if they promise more influence and success.”[vii]

Apparently not even medical doctors could resist. Forget the Hippocratic oath; “the psychiatric and medical professions were among the most enthusiastic supporters of Nazi race programs.”[viii]

Dr. Bergman is far from alone in believing that Darwinism influenced Hitler and his supporters. He quotes other authorities extensively throughout his book, and notes that scholars such as Professor Richard Weikart have also documented Darwinism’s role in Nazism.[ix] Even outspoken Harvard professor Stephen Jay Gould noticed. As he wrote in his book Ontogeny and Phylogeny, “’Biological arguments for racism … increased by orders of magnitude following the acceptance of evolutionary theory’ by scientists in most nations.”[x]

But Hitler and the Nazi Darwinian Worldview may be the first to gather all this evidence under one convenient cover and to make such a persuasive case for what happens when Darwinism is taken to its logical conclusion.  

It’s not a book I’d recommend for bedtime reading.

***
In the midst of reading Hitler and the Nazi Darwinian Worldview, I had the chance to watch Ray Comfort’s powerful pro-life documentary 180, in which he uses the Holocaust as an apt analogy for abortion (watch it at www.180movie.com/). Ray opens with clips of interviews with young people. Astoundingly, almost none knew who Hitler was.

And there you have it. We are raising a nation of people who don’t know who Adolf Hitler was, or what he did; yet they have been raised on the same existential philosophy that drove his killing machine.

If Dr. Bergman is correct about the parallels that he and others are drawing to events in our world today, this is a problem of potentially tragic proportions.

Consider, for example, the alarming increase in reports of Antisemitism in many parts of the world.

Or consider the “weaning of Americans from Christianity by banning public display of Christian symbols and ritual.” This is, he points out, “remarkably reminiscent of what Nazi Germany did.”[xi]

Or consider any of the other steps that the western world is taking, from gun control legislation to interfering with (and in some cases persecuting) home-schooling parents – all echoes of Hitler’s own policies.

Then read Hitler and the Nazi Darwinian Worldview, and consider the similarities between the philosophies underlying the Third Reich, and those prevailing in our culture today.

What do you think? Is there cause for concern?

Many in Germany, early on, recognized the harm of Darwinism, and the Prussian Minister of Education for a time in 1875 forbade the “schoolmasters in the country to have anything to do with Darwinism … with a view of protecting schoolchildren from the dangers of the new doctrines.” A significant question is this: Would the Nazi Holocaust have occurred if this ban had remained in effect?[xii]

Great question – one that I believe Dr. Bergman answers affirmatively and persuasively in this very important book.

Notes

[i] Bergman, J. Hitler and the Nazi Darwinian Worldview. Kitchener, Ontario, Canada: Joshua Press Inc., 2012, 38.
[ii] Ibid.
[iii] Ibid. 51.
[iv] Ibid., 84.
[v] Ibid., 256.
[vi] Ibid., 257.
[vii] Ibid., 126.
[viii] Ibid., 121.
[ix] Ibid., 125.
[x] Ibid., 83.
[xi] Ibid., 16.
[xii] Ibid., 96.

We’ve been blessed in recent weeks, my husband and I, to have two very visible birds’ nests in our garden.

The first, snuggled in the crest of a weeping cherry, belongs to a robin family. It’s a good 30 feet from our deck, and you have to sneak around behind it for a good view, but sure ‘nuf, after days of patient sitting, Mrs. Robin is proud mama to three adorable babies who look like they’ll soon be ready to take on the world.

The second nest belongs to a cardinal family. It’s nestled in the low-bowing branches of a saucer magnolia right outside the window over our kitchen sink.

Beautiful Mrs. Cardinal built the nest just a handful of weeks ago, and has been sitting in it almost constantly for the last ten days. It’s a perfect spot, it seems; most of the time, if you don’t know about the nest, you can barely see it or her; the only sign that she’s there is a spot of bright orange that is her beak. But at 5:38 p.m., the sun drops enough to find its way through the branches, illuminating her for just a few gasp-worthy minutes.  

Until yesterday, that is.

Yesterday morning, Mr. Cardinal showed up at the nest. Oh, he’s no doubt been hanging around, watching for predators, ready to fly in and help out with feeding his babies once they've hatched. We have even heard him calling right outside our back door, but this is the first we’ve seen of him.

But yesterday, he landed on the nest’s branch near the trunk of the magnolia, gazed at his family-in-process for a few moments, took the short flight to the nest and touched his beak to Mrs. Cardinal's. Then she rose to let him inspect her eggs. He looked carefully, from all angles. Then, less than a minute later, he flew off, she returned to the nest, and we went about our daily business, smiling, looking forward to silently greeting their babies.

That was the last we’ve seen of either of them.

The nest has apparently been abandoned, and it will soon be time for us to look inside to see what our lovely cardinals saw yesterday morning. Were the eggs dead? Had they disappeared, victims of a hungry squirrel or chipmunk or perhaps some creature of the night? Had the babies hatched and died?

This was our first nest-watching experience, so we have no expertise in this area. But we looked it up on the internet and learned that this sudden abandonment of the nest is not all that unusual; apparently if mama even feels threatened by a potential predator, she will take off permanently, searching out another spot to try again.

We are sad. But there is, as usual, comfort in scripture: “For the creation was subjected to futility,” the apostle Paul wrote in Romans 8, “not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.”

I’ve read many commentaries on this passage, most of them wanting to spiritualize the meaning out of the passage. But its meaning seems clear: the entire creation is going to enjoy the glorious liberty of God’s children, which is to say those who have repented and trusted in Christ.  

The upshot? I believe that we’ll be seeing Mr. and Mrs. Cardinal again one happy day, in the midst of that glorious liberty. And maybe we'll get to meet their babies as well. 

Have you heard the “train of life” analogy for our time on earth? It’s pretty interesting, as far as it goes.

In a nutshell, it says that we board the train of life at birth, where we meet our parents. We think we’ll always be with them, but in the usual course of events, they disembark along the way. In the meantime, others climb on board – siblings, spouses, children, friends, colleagues. Some of these folks depart, too, leaving a permanent vacuum in our journeys.

Our rides are full of joys, sorrows, hellos and farewells, the analogy says. So far so good, don’t you think?

But then it falls apart in ways large and small. For instance, the version I just received recently added “fantasy” and “expectations” to this short list of life’s components; whoever wrote it certainly has a peculiar idea of what life is all about.

Worse, observing that we don’t know when our journeys will end, this version concludes thusly: “So, we must live in the best way, love, forgive and offer the best of who we are. It is important to do this because when the time comes for us to step down … we should leave behind beautiful memories for those who will continue to travel …”

So that’s what life is all about, according to whoever wrote this? To leave behind beautiful memories for those who knew us?

This is apparently becoming a prominent worldview these days: Either there’s ultimately no purpose to life, no afterlife or hope of eternal life – or if these things do exist at all, they’re lurking somewhere in the “impossible to know” realm.

Still, I think the “train of life” is an analogy we can rescue: Adding, for example, that if we devote ourselves to our relationship with the Conductor rather than with the other passengers … if we concern ourselves with repenting of our failures to live according to His itinerary, and trust Him to have paid the penalty for those failures – why, then we can sit back and enjoy the ride, because He has promised that our last stop will be heaven and eternal joy. 

Eternal joy, as in "happily ever after."  

Just one more thing: we must not forget to tell the other passengers about this Conductor and His perfect destination, or to persuade them to trust in Him themselves. After all, we don’t want even the most unpleasant of them to get off at the wrong station. 

“For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools …” Romans 1:20-22

When I first started investigating the question of God in the year 2000, I learned about many issues that old-earth evolutionists were unable to answer – including the issue of comets. Because of factors ranging from the sun’s heat to collisions with planets, they cannot possibly survive for billions of years. So if the universe is truly billions of years old, how is it that we still see them?

Secular scientists obviously acknowledge this as a problem, because they long ago came up with a “rescue device,” which is to say a theoretical explanation: a distant comet-breeding ground called the Oort Cloud.

No one has ever seen the Oort Cloud. No one has uncovered even a smattering evidence for its existence. Instead, they satisfy themselves by saying that the Oort Cloud must exist, because comets exist, and the universe is billions and billions of years old, and it’s the best explanation anyone has come up with to date. 

Back in 2000, scientists at least had the decency to call this a theory. But no more: The Oort Cloud is now presented as fact, even though not a lick of evidence has been found to prove its existence. Kind of like the “fact” of evolution itself.

There’s a word for this sort of thinking: reification. It means treating an idea as fact – or, in Gestalt psychology, perceiving an object as having more spatial information than it actually has.  

Isn’t it interesting that the world rejects the stunning evidence for the God of the Bible, the truth of the book of Genesis, and the relative youth of our universe – but eagerly embraces theories that are totally lacking in evidence?  

I guess Jesus explained this phenomenon when He said, as recorded in Matthew 7, “Wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.”

People seem to think that there’s safety in numbers, that the Lord wouldn't let the majority of people spend eternity in hell, that if we just stick with the crowd and avoid the most heinous crimes, we’ll be fine at the judgment seat.

Not so, according to Jesus. As He also said in Matthew 7, “Narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

That’s one fact that we’d all be wise to embrace.

Are you among the few? Or do you prefer to cling to the crowd, to embrace empty theories that have as their only advantage an uncanny ability to deny what your Creator has so clearly said? 

If you were Satan, and your goal was to hurt the Lord God by keeping His creatures – specifically, those He made in His image – away from Him for all eternity, what would your game plan be?

Even if you don’t believe in a literal devil, think about it just for fun: How would you stick it to the One who chucked you, the most beautiful angel of all, out of heaven just because you’d become a little prideful?

There are some obvious tactics, I think.

If I were Satan, I’d begin by solidifying my base -- those who have no interest in a God of any sort, or at least the holier-than-thou God of Christianity.

I’d whisper in the ears of their opinion leaders – primarily the intellectual elite – telling them that science mustn’t allow for the supernatural, that absolute truth (if it exists at all) can’t extend beyond science, and that anyone who disagrees with such truths is a lunatic along the lines of the William Jennings Bryan character in the film Inherit the Wind.

I’d urge them to get busy and promote these ideas far and wide, in order to stamp out the backwaters of biblical literalism, with all its ignorance and intolerance -- clearly holding back human progress. “Fundamentalist religion is responsible for most of the ills of mankind,” I would assure them. “Just look at the Crusades and the Inquisition.”

Next, I’d skim off those potential converts who were most prone to temptation by enticing them into overtly rebellious activities that the Bible clearly condemns – encouraging adultery or drunkenness, self-centeredness or greed, to mention just a few examples of the rich minefields of human sin. To prevent them from becoming so sick of themselves that they might repent and turn to God, I’d keep whispering in their ears about what horrible, hopeless perverts they are. “Might as well grab all the gusto you can,” I would hiss, “’cause there’s no way you’ll ever make it to heaven.” (Note the nifty double deception here, in reinforcing the misconception that it’s their goodness or lack thereof that’s their ticket to paradise.)

Then I might go after those who are so wrapped up in this world that they don’t give spiritual things any thought. I’d nudge as many of them as possible into the “nobody can possibly know the truth” camp of hard-line agnosticism, an increasingly popular place to hang one’s intellectual hat. I’d encourage them at every turn to squeeze every last moment out of this life, turning away from anything that threatens their pleasure and relentlessly battling anything that might cut their lives short.

Having taken care of all the low-hanging fruit, I would let the rest go to church, as their consciences dictate. But I’d do whatever it takes to get those churches teaching false gospels – watering down the real gospel by saying  nothing about repentance or substitutionary atonement or evangelism, for instance, or better yet explicitly denying these things altogether. I’d shower those who preach such useless gospels with material wealth and the adulation of thousands to keep them on message for the long haul.

So far, so good: I’ve wrested a huge chunk of the human population away from my Enemy!

These tactics alone would probably take me 90% of the way towards accomplishing my objective. It would be enough to make the average demon take a little vacation.

But Satan, of course, is no ordinary demon. He is the Prince of This World, and there are always more targets to attack.  

So maybe you really don't believe in Satan. But you have to admit that it's kind of interesting, the way what we see in our world today just happens to match what an enterprising devil would do. But don't worry, it's probably all just coincidence ...

Back in the ‘90s, my husband and I collected a handful of signed, limited-edition wildlife prints, thinking they’d one day be worth a fortune. We were wrong about that, at least as far as money is concerned; but I think there may be a wealth of spiritual truth to be found in the best of them, even if it’s unintended.

Take, for instance, the Bev Doolittle painting excerpted above, entitled “When the Wind Had Wings.” At first glance, it’s a long horizontal slash of galloping white and then pinto horses morphing into a flock of birds:

But if you look at it with new eyes, you can see an Indian profiled in the center of the picture.

Once you see him, it becomes clear that the horses in that portion of the painting are red herrings. They distract the casual viewer from the real picture, the portrait of the Indian.

Some people are never able to see his profile, so captivated are they by the thundering horses – sort of the way many are so thoroughly blinded by the creation that they are unable to see the Creator.  

The apostle Paul described this sort of spiritual blindness perfectly:

"For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man--and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things." (Romans 1:20-23)

It's worth noting that this observation of Paul's is followed by some of the Bible's most chilling warnings.

I have no idea if Doolittle intends to say anything of the sort with her “camouflage" paintings; perhaps we can find a clue in some of her other work, such as her 2000 book The Earth Is My Mother. I wonder if she would be surprised to know that her art is such an excellent reflection of biblical truth?  

“In John 8:36, Jesus is quoted as saying, “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”

“It was in early 2002 that I had my first real experience of that freedom.

“I still smoked as much as humanly possible – three packs a day, more often than not. I still drank a lot, too; it was not unheard of for me to put away a six-pack of beer or a bottle of wine in a single evening. But I didn’t see this as a problem: Early on I had overheard a pastor telling another new Christian who smoked, ‘We expect you to be in prayer about it.’ No problem – I could handle that. And in fact, I often mentioned to the Lord that anytime He wanted me to quit these little habits of mine, He should just say the word.

“I guess I never expected Him to take me up on it.

“Not that I actually heard Him say anything about it to me. But in mid-February of that year, in the midst of a prayer, I suddenly knew with dead certainty that it was time to lose both cigarettes and liquor.

“Even more amazing, I complied. Cold turkey. After 30-plus years of chain smoking and beer-guzzling, I became a teetotaling nonsmoker overnight.

“What’s nearly as remarkable, to me at least, is that my taste for alcohol vanished instantly. I still enjoy non-alcoholic beer (apparently verboten among secular alcohol-abuse programs, for some strange reason), and upon occasion someone has given me the real thing by mistake. Deep in conversation, I have taken a sip, and have had to literally spit it out – the taste is foul to me now. 

“This is real freedom, in my book – the God-powered freedom to turn one’s back on even deep-seated behaviors in order to glorify Him instead of oneself. In my case, that meant being sober, as the apostles Paul and Peter repeatedly advised, and taking seriously Paul’s admonition that the Christian’s body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

“There are those who would deny that giving up a pleasure could be called ‘freedom.’ But the ‘do what thou willst’ freedom they prefer leads to enslavement. Just ask someone who’s addicted to alcohol or drugs or gambling or exercise or gluttony or sex or self-importance or any of a thousand other out-of-control pleasures; if they’re being honest, they will not describe their ability to pursue their poisons of choice as freedom.

“’Freedom is slavery,’ George Orwell said in his book 1984. Perhaps he was merely commenting on the propaganda he imagined would drive the totalitarian societies of the future. But it seems to me there’s a lot of truth to this slogan for a ‘free’ society, even if Orwell didn’t realize it.“

(Heaven Without Her, pp 191-192)

Tired of seeing professional athletes bowing the knee or pointing to the heavens in a spontaneous display of faith? I hope you’ll reconsider – because the Lord can use even the most fleeting testimonies in a powerful way, as my experience demonstrates.

As I reported in Heaven Without Her, it happened in the wake of my newfound love affair with pro football, and my hometown Green Bay Packers:

“In truth, it was this obsession as much as my mom’s faith that would eventually point me to Christianity.

“That’s because, in 1993, the Packers lured Reggie White away from the Philadelphia Eagles – the Reverend Reggie White, the Minister of Defense, the all-pro defensive end and the heart and soul of the Packers through the ’98 season. He was an awesome player – the kind of player who could take over a game almost single-handedly, the kind of player whose very presence on our roster attracted other great players, like the Dolphins’ Keith Jackson, the Seahawks’ Eugene Robinson, the Oilers’ Sean Jones and the Bills’ Don Beebe.

“At first, I just found it curious that Reggie capped every game – win or lose – by leading players from both teams in down-on-your-knees prayer at mid-field. After a season or two, I found this practice very cool; it was so politically incorrect, after all. I watched and admired those who prayed with Reggie. And I found it neat that, instead of making nasty comments about their mothers or sisters or wives, Reggie would growl ‘Jesus is coming’ at opposing offensive linemen.

“But my big Reggie moment -- the moment I’ll never, ever forget -- didn’t happen until Sunday, January 12, 1997. Dave and I were at Lambeau Field for the NFC championship game between the Packers and the Carolina Panthers. It was cold and windy – a typical Wisconsin winter day – but few of us fans cared. With a win, the Packers would go to their first Super Bowl in nearly 30 years.

“I don’t know when it happened – whether it was during halftime or during a commercial time-out late in the game – but at some point, the Packers’ front office fired up the Jumbotron for something other than a replay. There, materializing in front of my eyes, was a much-larger-than-life Reggie White. I think he was wearing street clothes, and I think he was standing before a stormy background of some kind – others have said that I’m wrong about that, that it was some kind of summer scene. Maybe so, but I remember dark swirling clouds and lightning.

“Anyway, there was Reggie, singing a haunting tune:

“’Amazing grace! How sweet the sound …’

“I gave him my full attention.

“’That saved a wretch like me!’

“Although those who challenge my visual memory of the occasion also claim that the 60,000+ other people in the stadium sang right along with him, I don’t remember it that way. In fact, all those people just seemed to vanish. It was just Reggie and me, all alone.

“’I once was lost, but now am found;

Was blind, but now I see.’

“Reggie and me and the Holy Spirit, to be more accurate. Although I didn’t know it at the time.

“Surely I had heard that song before, somewhere along the line. It is, after all, one of the most popular hymns in the English language – a hymn written, as it turns out, by slave trader John Newton in 1779 – and surely we’d sung it at my parents’ Congregational church. But it seemed new to me that day. And it took my breath away, for a few moments at least.

“Then it was over. The game resumed, we cheered, and the Packers rolled to an easy 30-13 victory over the Panthers to advance to the Super Bowl. Which we also won, 35-21, thanks in no small part to a heroic performance by Reggie White, who had a record-setting three sacks in the second half.

“After helping to return the Lombardi Trophy to Green Bay and the Title to Titletown, Reggie addressed Packer fans everywhere. ‘I wanted to make sure to honor God,’ he said. ‘A lot of people don’t like that. But I wanted to make sure people knew God had His hand on this team.’

“If that was true, then God enjoyed a lot of victories that season, it would seem; the Packers won all but three games. But as far as I’m concerned, He posted His most impressive win back at Lambeau during the NFC championship game, when He used Reggie White to make this hard-as-a-rock 44-year-old heart sit up and take notice of Him at last.”

(Heaven Without Her, pp 69-71)

I recently met yet another committed atheist who informed me that God doesn't exist, and that death is followed by eternal nothingness. 

This woman was in her early 80s, which makes her position truly astounding to me. How can you be standing on the cusp of eternity and refuse to investigate what comes next? And there's no doubt that such folks are willfully ignorant; if they were to look with an open mind, they would change their tune in very short order, because the evidence for God's existence and the truth of the Bible is everywhere. 

Just take a gander at the old travel photo above. Even the most ardent atheist would have to agree that virtually everything in this frame was designed and manufactured via intelligent design on the part of human beings -- building, signs, flower boxes, VW bus, cobblestone street, clothing, accessories, and so on. And yet this same atheist would say that the living things in this snapshot -- the people and the plants -- are the products of random chance and vast ages, sparked when dead matter miraculously spawned life long, long ago.   

To think that those who embrace such fairy tales also insist that Christians are "intellectually stunted" and "delusional." Absolutely mind-boggling.