Creationism theories

Creationism is the belief that the universe was created by a deity, or deities, often referred to as the Abrahamic God of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Creationism theories are based on rejection of evolution as an explanation of origin of the universe.

Why should I be aware of this?

• According to the Creationist theory, the universe and everything in it could not have come into being without a supreme being causing it to happen.
• Even in the 21st century, in a country like the USA, creationists can still persuade politicians, judges and ordinary citizens that evolution is a flawed, poorly supported fantasy.
• They lobby for creationist ideas such as "intelligent design" to be taught as alternatives to evolution in science classrooms.

All about creationism

Creationists claim that Genesis is the word of God and contradicts the Big bang theory and the theory of evolution. Theories of evolution, they claim, are false and scientists who advocate such theories are ignorant of the truth about the origins of the universe and life on Earth. They also claim that creationism should be taught our science curriculum as a competitor to the theory of evolution as it is a scientific theory.

Main points

The main points of creationism are:

• All life was created by the actions of God
• Some Creationists say God did this in a single creative event while others don't limit creation to one event
• Life existing today in all forms was created by the actions of God
• The organisms created by God can't produce new forms of organism - only God can do this
• The most common theory follows the accounts in the Biblical Book of Genesis, but most religions have their own creation story
• Modern creationism uses scientific evidence to support scripture
• Most scientists say the creationism theory is false and unscientific

Forms of creationism

Creationism doesn't attempt to explain how creation is God's creative action:

Creationism comes in different forms, and the most common are listed below. Apart from these also there are other forms which include different combinations.

Young Earth creationism

Young Earth creationism teaches that:

• The Book of Genesis is literally true
• The Earth and all forms of life were created by God in 6 days, around 10,000 years ago.

Scientists are almost unanimous in saying that as the Earth is 4 billion years old, and that the Young Earth theory is false.

Old Earth creationism

Old Earth creationism teaches that:

• The Earth is as old as scientists say (around 4 billion years)
• God played an active part in the creation of the universe, Earth, and life.
• There have been countless divine acts of creation throughout history
• God acts both by direct creation and by guiding the processes he created

Gap creationism

• Gap creationism holds that there are two creations - one before Adam, and a second one, which included Adam and Eve, after a lengthy time gap
• This theory reconciles the age of the Earth with the story in Genesis

Most scientists say that the geological evidence shows that this theory is false.

Day-Age creationism

Day-Age creationism adds an element that reconciles the long period of time shown by the fossil record with the story in Genesis.

• Each 'day' in the Biblical '6 days' of creation wasn't really a day, but a period of millions of years
• The theory is supported by Biblical references that show that one of 'God's days' is a lot longer than 24 hours

Progressive creationism

Progressive creationism accepts the scientific timetable of creation, and gives evolution a small part to play in the story of life.

• God created the various 'kinds' (some people would say 'species' but other categories have been suggested) of plant and animal one after another - according to the timetable shown by the fossil record
• The scientific timetable of creation reflects the timetable that God used to create life on earth
• God created each kind of organism as we find it
• Different forms of organism are separate creations, not the result of evolution from an earlier form
• Some created organisms do become extinct
• Micro-evolution can take place within a kind of organism to produce subtle variations
• Lions, tigers and cats within the cat family
• Different sizes of beak within the Galapagos finches

Islamic Creationism

Creationism is not just a Christian issue. Muslim creationists base their thinking on similar scientific arguments and on passages such as this in the Qur'an:

And God has created every animal from water. Of them there are some that creep on their bellies, some that walk on two legs and some that walk on four. God creates what he wills for verily God has power over all things.

References:

• creationism and creation science
• Creationism and intelligent design