Who Makes More Atheists?

My mom (who still uses AOL evidently) recently forwarded me an article about Kirk Cameron's latest Bible-thumping campaign. This time, he is disseminating Creationist versions of Darwin's Origin of the Species on college campuses. According to Cameron's quotes in the article:

"Atheism has been on the rise for years now, and the Bible of the atheists is 'The Origin of Species'," Cameron says. "We have a situation in our country where young people are entering college with a belief in God and exiting with that faith being stripped and shredded. What we want to do is have student make an informed, educated decision before they chuck their faith...No wonder Atheism has doubled in the last 20 years among 19-25 year olds," he explains in the video. "An entire generation is being brainwashed by Atheistic Evolution!"

I wonder, though. Is it that college kids learn about Darwin that is the problem, or is it that fundamentalist Christians teach their children that the Bible's creation stories must be read literally as fact?

Do fundamentalists approach the Bible as an all or nothing text?

That is, could the reason why so many college kids fall to atheism be that they have been taught to unswervingly believe all of the narratives to be literally true, so much so that if even one of those narratives is proven not to be historically accurate, then the fundamentalist begins to doubt all of the narratives?

The facts of the matter support some form of evolution occuring far more than they support the narrative of Genesis 2&3. And, as I'm fond of repeating in these debates, Genesis 1 actually contradicts the narrative of Genesis 2&3.

Truth, experience, and our hearts, however, know that there is more to the story than the biological process that created our bodies. The purpose of Genesis is to explain our fallen depravity, our longing sense of separation from something greater than ourselves, what it means that we are capable of imagining a more perfect existence, and how obedience to God will lead us to a greater happiness than we can find following any of God's other creatures, be they man, beast, or angel. These things are all still true whether or not the story is historical fact.

If we taught more young Christians the purpose of the story, then perhaps fewer of them would have spiritual meltdowns when they find scientific facts that undermine its historical accuracy.

To refuse to believe in God because of you find evolution convincing would be like refusing to give people presents at Christmas because you realized Santa's handwriting looks an awful lot like your mom's. Christmas endures not because they believe in Santa Claus their whole lives, but because they understand on some level that the idea of Santa Claus points to a larger Truth. Trying to keep faith alive by upholding the literal truth of Genesis 2&3 is rather like trying to keep the spirit of Christmas alive by convincing college students that Santa Claus is real. In the face of scientific evidence, it looks kind of silly and defeats the purpose.

Keep in mind, I'm not saying that Genesis 2&3 couldn't have happened. Who knows? I'm just saying that fundamentalists trying to preserve faith by denouncing scientific evidence is just making the job of evangelization harder for us Catholics. We don't have a problem with evolution, but no one will end up hearing that because they will be too busy scorning Kirk Cameron.