Introduction - What is creationism?

Although the term creationism can relate to many religions (such as Islamic creationism), this article will focus on Christian creationism, because this is where the problems affecting countries such as America, Australia & the UK are emanating. Essentially, creationism is the belief that God created the universe & all life, sometime in the past in accordance with varying interpretations of biblical texts. To accept this, you have to believe that the information in the bible is literally true (rather than metaphorical). Therefore, creationists are often referred to as “fundamentalists” (or “fundies” by their detractors) as this literalism is part of the definition of fundamentalism.

Many biblical literalists also believe that the bible can be viewed as a form of divine, unquestionable law book, that can form the basis of government & be used to control the activities of the population (whether they like it or not). This is yet another aspect of fundamentalism, seen for example, in the Reconstructionists & Dominionists.

Finally, these views are obviously extreme & can be strongly held. Hence, fundamentalism is also associated with extremism. In schematic form, this can be shown as:

The creationists are not quite so upfront about the “theo” side of things, so their main characteristics are generally, biblical literalism & aversion to modern science & society. (Although it is all a matter of degree).

Many centuries ago, creationism was taken for granted by Christians to be a true description of reality that placed Man & the Earth at the centre of a universe created & controlled by a Christian God. James Ussher, Archbishop of Armagh even went so far as calculating from biblical texts, that the universe was created at 6pm on Saturday October 22, 4004 BC.

However, this position was slowly undermined by various scientific discoveries that clearly showed a contradictory view. Firstly, there was found to be nothing special about the Earths place in the cosmos; it was just one of many planets, which was orbiting the sun. Then it was found to be a lot older than anyone could scarcely have imagined. Finally, with the advent of evolutionary theory in the late 1900 century, it became obvious that rather than being the extra special creation of a Christian God; man’s unique features could be shown to have evolved from lower life forms.

Although the need for a God had not been eliminated, it had nevertheless been moved from centre stage & more into the background. The majority of Christians now find the doctrine of biblical creationism far fetched; however, a small but persistent minority of creationists still refuse to accept the mounting scientific evidence to the contrary.

This situation is largely due to the work of, Henry M. Morris and John C. Whitcomb who In 1961 wrote The Genesis Flood, which is the book largely accepted as being responsible for reviving an otherwise withering belief in creationism. In fact, it can be credited as the conception of creationist viewpoint commonly called Scientific Creationism, which attempts (unsuccessfully) to justify creationism using scientific means.

Within a few years, Morris along with a group of followers formed the Creation Research Society & in 1972 the Institute for Creation Research which led by Morris has become the driving force behind the creationist movement that has swept America & is now taking hold in the UK & other countries.

It is worth noting the pretentious sounding wording they use to describe their organisations. For instance, words such as Institute & Research, give an air of establishment & scientific respectability that they simply do not deserve. This use (or more precisely misuse) of language is something that has been developed to an art form with the advent of Intelligent Design & the Wedge Strategy.

These people are religious extremists with a very limited understanding of the scientific issues they pontificate about & rather than spending their time on carrying out research, they in fact spend it on spreading malicious antiscientific propaganda using all manner of dubious & underhand techniques.

Creationism is a threat to modern science, modern society & even democracy itself. To understand why, remember that as explained above, creationism is associated with biblical literalism & fundamentalism; with its supporters believing they have a God given right to impose their views on others. Not just in the classroom, but in all areas of life.