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Creationism can be described as the belief that the universe was created by a deity, or alternatively by one or more powerful and intelligent beings. In the English-speaking world, the Creator is usually held to be the God of the Abrahamic religions, who, creationists believe, created living organisms "after their kind", as described in the biblical book of Genesis.
The term creationism is used in a variety of ways to describe a number of beliefs regarding the origins of life and the universe, including:
In asserting that life was created, all strands of creationism stand in contrast to any belief which asserts that life arose through naturalistic means alone, without the involvement of any intelligent Deity or Designer.
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The distribution of creationist and evolutionist views varies widely with geography. In some areas, such as Europe, evolution has achieved near-universality. In other areas, such as the Middle East, creationism is nearly universal. Finally, in places such as the United States, opinions are widely mixed, and the debate rages in educational, political, and some scientific circles.
In the United States, creationism remains popular among the general population, and opinion is split in the academic community. According to a 2001 Gallup evolution poll, 72% of Americans believe in some form of creationism (as defined above). About 45% of Americans ascribe to the more Biblically literal creationism, believing that “God created man pretty much in his present form at one time within the last 10,000 years.”.
Among the scientific community, opinion is split: According to a 1997 Gallup poll, 55% of scientists ascribe to atheistic evolution, leaving almost half who either ascribe to some form of creationism or state no opinion. Belief in biblically literal creation, however, is confined to a tiny minority of the academic community. In 1987, Newsweek reported: “By one count there are some 700 scientists with respectable academic credentials (out of a total of 480,000 U.S. earth and life scientists) who ascribed to Biblically literal creationism. No figures were collected as to how many scientists believe in other forms of creationism.
These data have remained relatively stable over time.
While a solid majority of the American population believes in some form of creation, statistics show that most Americans support the teaching of evolution in schools. A 2000 poll by People for the American Way examined the question of popular support for evolution and creationism in schools, and showed that a majority of 83% supported the teaching of the theory of evolution
http://www.answersingenesis.org/
http://www.creationscience.com/
Because most vocal creationists are from the United States, it is generally assumed that creationist views are not as common elsewhere. Statistics are not clear on the issue.
According to a PBS documentary on evolution, Australian creationists claimed that “five percent of the Australian population now believe that Earth is thousands, rather than billions, of years old.” The documentary further states that “Australia is a particular stronghold of the creationist movement.” Taking these claims at face value, “young-earth” creationism is very much a minority position in Western countries other than the USA.
In Europe, creationism is a less well defined phenomenon, and regular polls are not available; however, the option of teaching creationism in school has never been seriously considered in any Western European country. In Roman Catholic-majority countries, papal acceptance of evolution as worthy of study has essentially ended debate on the matter for many people. Nevertheless, creationist groups such as the German Studiengemeinschaft Wort und Wissen[1] (http://www.wort-und-wissen.de/) are actively lobbying there as well. In the United Kingdom the Emmanuel Schools Foundation (previously the Vardy Foundation), which owns two colleges in the north of England and plans to open several more, teaches that creationism and evolution are equally valid “faith positions.” In Italy, the prime minister Silvio Berlusconi wanted to retire evolution from schools in the middle level; after one week of massive protests, he reversed.
Of particular note for Eastern Europe, Serbia suspended the teaching of evolution for 2004, under education minister Ljiljana Colic, only allowing schools to reintroduce evolution into the curriculum if they also taught creationism. [2] (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/09/09/wdarw09.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/09/09/ixworld.html) "After a deluge of protest from scientists, teachers and opposition parties," says the BBC report, Ms. Colic's deputy made the statement, "I have come here to confirm Charles Darwin is still alive," and announced that the decision was reversed. [3] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3642460.stm) Ms. Colic resigned after the government said that she had caused "problems that had started to reflect on the work of the entire government". [4] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3663196.stm)
In the Islamic world, due to the continued prevalence of religious belief, the theory of evolution has not yet taken hold, and traditional Islamic beliefs regarding creation remain dominant. However, several liberal movements within Islam, which are generally partial to secular scientific thought, ascribe to evolution.
In recent years, however, due to increased contact between Islamic and Western cultures, the arguments of “intelligent design”-style creationism have grown in popularity in parts of the Islamic world and among Muslim immigrants in the Western diaspora.
The centre of the Islamic creationist movement is Turkey. Its main exponent is the writer Harun Yahya (or. Adnan Oktar, b. 1956) who uses the Internet for the propagation of his ideas. His BAV (Bilim Araştırma Vakfı/ Science Research Foundation) organizes conferences with leading American creationists. Another leading advocate of Islamic creationism is Fethullah Gülen (b. 1941).
The movement seems to have a considerable following in Indonesia and Malaysia whereas interest seems to be low in the Arabic countries and Iran. As in the Western context, the theory of evolution is held responsible for a materialist worldview that is the alleged base of many societal problems and negative political developments.
Main Article: History of creationism
Up to and including most of the 19th century, most scientists in Western countries were creationists. With the advent of Charles Darwin's book, The Origin of Species (1859), the idea that natural selection could account for the evolution of living things become increasingly accepted, while creationism declined in prominence. Today, the majority of scientists believe in evolution, while a minority of scientists are creationist. Only a very small number of scientists reject evolution entirely.
In Europe, after a brief period of controversy, the majority of the population began ascribing to evolutionism. In the United States, however, a movement emerged to oppose evolutionism, and reassert creationism. As a result of this movement, the creation-evolution debate continued much longer than in Europe, and continues in some circles today.
The reasons for the rise of creationism in the United States are disputed. Some assert that creationism was and is a reactionary movement grounded in fundamentalist Christianity that steadfastly chooses dogma and unscientific claims over overwhelming scientific evidence. Others assert that creationism was and is a principled, reasoned, and broad-based school of thought regarding theories of origins.
Creationism finds expression in a variety of movements today.
Main Article: Creation according to Genesis
For the Abrahamic religions, the opening chapters of Genesis give the Biblical account of creation. There are a variety of interpretations regarding the text.
Within the United States today, creationism has become an active political force dividing along the following doctrinal lines.
Main article: Creation and evolution in public education
In America, the legal status of creation and evolution in public education has been the subject of a great deal of debate and litigation over the course of the past 80 years. By the establishment clause of the Constitution's first amendment, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Under current constitutional law, states may not pass laws which ban the teaching of evolution, or require the teaching of creation whenever evolution is taught. Most recently, the Supreme Court has held in their ruling of Edwards_v._Aguillard that a variety of theories of origins may be taught in public schools, as long as they are taught with the secular intent of enhancing a scientific education, and not motivated by religious conviction or agenda.
Main Article: Creation vs. evolution debate
The Creation vs. evolution debate is a controversy regarding the origins of life on Earth. In some areas, such as Europe, acceptance of evolution has achieved near-universality. In other areas, such as the Middle East, creationism is nearly universal. Finally, in places such as the United States, opinions are widely mixed, and the debate rages in educational, political, and some scientific circles.
The debate revolves around two issues:
People hold a variety of opinions regarding these two issues.
See also Views of Creationists and mainstream scientists compared for a column by column analysis of points of view in the debate.
Certain tenets of creationism are opposed to philosophical naturalism and materialism:
One response to the modern creationism controversy has been articulated by creationist Phillip E. Johnson, Professor of Law (emeritus) at the University of California, Berkeley, who argues that the entire issue of biological origins has been framed in terms of scientific naturalism, and that natural science per se is not identical with naturalism. According to him, the statement, “Science has nothing to say about whether or not there exists a supernatural realm,” is true and based on the fact that rigorous physical science is naturalistic, but the statement, “Science holds that there is no supernatural realm,” is false because it is beyond the scope of natural science to make such an assertion, but is instead a philosophical position. According to Johnson, this distinction opens the possibility of natural science and creationism being non-contradictory. However, such an assertion is problematic when trying to reconcile natural science with certain types of creationism that do make specific claims about the natural realm.
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