OCALA (FBW)—Exposing a “clash” inherent among worldviews, Charles Colson contrasted evolution with Intelligent Design and Islam with Christianity in his address to messengers Nov. 14 on the first day of the two-day annual meeting of the Florida Baptist State Convention.

Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship, told a full sanctuary at First Baptist Church in Ocala it is obvious there is a clash of civilizations and cultures in today’s world.

Drawing from the “prophetic” work of Samuel Huntington, a professor at Harvard, Colson said there is a crisis between Western Civilization and the countries of Islam and the great struggle of the 21st century will be between the two. In his book, Huntington argues Islam will win because it is more aggressive.

“He’s wrong about that,” Colson said. “Because the Christian Gospel cannot be stopped.”

Islam has been at war with the West for 1,000 years out of the last 1,400, Colson said, calling the cultural phenomenon it has produced: “Islamofascism.”

The Islamofascist worldview has turned out such “star pupils” as Osama bin Ladin, Colson said.

“One hundred million Muslims in the world are influenced by Islamofascism and they are at war with us,” Colson said. “And when we start talking about [how] we’ve got to bring our troops home because they’ve been over there long enough, don’t we understand that the other side wants to destroy us? Don’t we understand this clash of worldviews is a life and death struggle?”

The American belief in freedom and the spread of democracy throughout the nation is being attacked, Colson said.

“The moral will and the moral resolve of the American people has always come from the Christian church,” Colson continued. “We have to provide that moral resolve as a country which is being attacked for its beliefs, which is what we are being attacked for right now.”

The clash of worldviews is also within the United States, Colson said. War between secular naturalism and biblical theism translates into debates on abortion, cloning and evolution, Colson said, emphasizing four questions that test worldviews.

• “Where did I come from?”

• “Why is there such a mess in the world?”

• “Is there anything I can do to get out of it, to solve it?”

• “What’s my purpose for being here?”

Colson compared secular naturalism’s theory of evolution to Intelligent Design, referencing debates on public school curriculum in Kansas and Pennsylvania.

“If we’re not created in the image of God, then where do we get our dignity?” Colson asked rhetorically. “Everyone has the imago dei, the image of God, within him and is therefore precious in God’s sight.”

Marriage, the unborn, prisoners, and the state of the family are all important issues because humanity bears God’s image, Colson said.

Giving examples from science and philosophy, Colson showed how secular theories cannot prove evolution and cannot disprove Intelligent Design.

“This case is being made powerfully and that’s why the educational establishment, the evolutionists, are fighting us so hard—tooth and nail—because they know if they open it up they lose,” Colson said. “That’s a fight we as Christians have to make.”

Contrasting secular society’s idea that man is basically good and education makes man better with the biblical view that sin is within humanity from Eden, Colson argued that man is what is wrong with the world.

The solution to what is wrong with the world is that men and women need to repent of sin and be transformed into new creations in Christ, Colson said.

“He’s given us a way out through Christ,” Colson said. “Only the Christian Gospel offers [hope].”

Christians always have a purpose in life, Colson said. Christians in any situation in life can serve Christ in unique ways, touching people only they can reach.

“I realize today that I would be dead because I would have suffocated in the stench of my own sins if I didn’t know for a fact that Christ had forgiven me,” Colson said. “That makes me want to get up in the morning and serve Christ that day as my duty to Him out of gratitude to him for what he has done for me.”

Purpose for nonbelievers is wrapped up in happiness, Colson said.

“The whole object of life is not to serve yourself; it is not to gratify yourself,” Colson said. “The whole object of life is to share with other people who are in need, and to help other people and see their lives transformed.”

Listing ministries such as Prison Fellowship’s Angel Tree, Colson urged churches to equip Christians to go out in the community as salt and light.

“Roll your sleeves up and decide you’re going to do something about the suffering you see in the world,” Colson said. “Get involved in a ministry where we are going out so that the world will see us and understand he truth of the Gospel because they see us living it.”

America is in a malaise, Colson continued. “People are looking for certain truths by which they can arrange and order their lives,” Colson explained.

As Americans look for “the right track,” Colson said it is a great opportunity to “propose in love” a better way to live.

“We go to our secular friends not to impose our views,” Colson said. “We go to propose a more beautiful and meaningful way to live out our lives.”