@David_Wood, you mentioned Nietzsche in your title, but not in your post. Here’s a bit from Will to Power:
What I relate is the history of the next two centuries. I describe what is coming, what can no longer come differently: the advent of nihilism…
2. The end of Christianity-at the hands of its own morality (which cannot be replaced), which turns against the Christian God (the sense of truthfulness, developed highly by Christianity, is nauseated by the falseness and mendaciousness of all Christian interpretations of the world and of history; rebound from “God is truth” to the fanatical faith “All is false” …).
3. Skepticism regarding morality is what is decisive. The end of the moral interpretation of the world, which no longer has any sanction after it has tried to escape into some beyond, leads to nihilism. “Everything lacks meaning” (the untenability of one interpretation of the world, upon which a tremendous amount of energy has been lavished, awakens the suspicion that all interpretations of the world are false).
Now, I ask you: Isn’t this exactly the effect that the “false and mendacious” YEC interpretation of history has on the younger generation? As @pevaquark pointed out, this isn’t a full-blown philosophical embrace of nihilism, but it is a practical nihilism such as one finds in Ecclesiastes, where the meaninglessness of existence causes people to forget about the big picture and focus on enjoyment of life, rather than its purpose.
Interestingly, Nietzsche conceived of the “will to power” as an alternative to natural selection, which he passionately rejected. By a strange twist, Nietzsche and Ken Ham share the same anti-Darwinian bed. Our God truly is the ironic God.