當進化論從科學研究的範疇,變為一種無神宗教,進到人類社會生活以後,它就對人類社會產生巨大的影響。有一位科學史學者William Provine說:「(進化論所指的所謂)現代科學直接提示,人類社會並沒有固有的道德律,或絕對指導原則。人是一些非常複雜的機器,每個人借著兩種機製成為一個有道德的人:遺傳和環境影響。僅此而已!我們必須斷定,我們死了就死了,並且死亡是我們的終點。傳統上所認為的自由意志,也就是在許多可能的行為里作自願且不可預知選擇的自由,其實並不存在。我們目前所認識的進化過程不可能產生一個完全自由選擇的個體。」(Modern science directly implies that there are no inherent moral or ethical laws, no absolute guiding principles for human society. Human beings are marvelously complex machines. The individual human becomes an ethical person by means of two primary mechanisms: heredity and environmental influences. That is all there is. We must conclude that when we die, we die, and that is the end of us. Free will as it is traditionally conceived-the freedom to make uncoerced and unpredictable choices among alternative possible courses of action-simply does not exist...There is no way that the evolutionary process as currently conceived can produce a being that is fully free to make choices.)