The authors propose that the theory of creationism and the resistance to the theory of evolution can be understood as the product of profound fears rooted in early development. They argue that Darwin's theory originated, in part, in repressed parricidal wishes associated with oedipal strivings. They believe evolution has this same unconscious meaning for many individuals who believe in a Father God as opposed to a Mother Nature. They feel that a "patriarchal unconscious"

develops, which equates power with maleness and nurturance with femaleness; it is a product of fantasies about the relations between the sexes as well as of the anatomical differences. Those who retain a persistent fear of female empowerment may see creationist theory as a means of defending against these fears.