They are quite wrong. Those who think that Darwin’s theory can be used to establish the non-existence of God are missing the point. Well, at least three points out of four, actually.
We are conscious human beings, living in a world full of life, within a universe of matter and energy. If someone wishes to argue that there is no God then they have to answer at least four questions about our existence (only one of which is tackled by Darwin’s theory). What is the origin of the universe? What is the origin of life? What is the origin of biological diversity? What is the origin of consciousness?
Put in this wider context we see how Darwin’s theory only tackles the third of this series of important questions. Whether or not Darwin’s theory is a true explanation of how biological diversity might have evolved from a common ancestor, all this could tell us is something about the process by which the variety of life developed. It cannot, in itself, tell us anything about the existence or non-existence of God.
