CREATIONISM: ORIGIN, PRINCIPLES AND REPRESENTATIVES - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

The creationism or theory of creationism states that the earth, living things and the universe were created by God. In this sense, most of the followers of this belief do not accept the theory of the evolution of species.

The first to use the term creationist was precisely Charles Darwin. In a letter, he used that expression to describe those who opposed science for going against their religious beliefs. With the different archaeological and biological discoveries, creationism was losing vigor.

The creation of the world. Eustache Le Sueur (1616–1655)

The theory of creationism is related to the different accounts that each religion offers about the creation of the world, although the term creationist is usually applied to those who profess Christianity. Within the supporters of this thesis there are several currents, from those who interpret the Bible literally to the followers of intelligent design.

In the 20th century, creationism has retained some strength in the United States. Figures such as Henry M. Morris or Harold W. Clark have achieved notoriety and followers thanks to their positions in defense of this theory and in some states of the US a real legal battle has developed over their presence in education.

Origin and history

Creationism is based on the accounts of the different religions about how the universe formed and the different forms of life appeared. For its more classical followers, religious books must be understood literally.

This type of stories offered the human being an answer to those questions that he could not answer, beginning with the origin of life and ending with why it occurs after death.

Despite this, creationism appeared as a current of thought when science began to give its own answers to the above questions. Thus, Charles Darwin's studies on the origin of species and natural evolution were greeted with indignation by many believers.

Photograph by Charles Darwin (Image by WikiImages at www.pixabay.com)

Darwin himself used the term creationist to describe his detractors. They were, according to him, those who put their religious beliefs above scientific discoveries.

Creationists

The advancement of science in the 18th century led to discoveries that contradicted biblical writings began to be published. Some theologians and scientists tried to reconcile both aspects: science and religion.

Already in the nineteenth century, the creationist concept began to be used to designate those who believed each species had been conceived separately, such as Philip Gosse. As the confrontation between evolutionists and creationists grew, the latter also began to be called “anti-evolutionists”.

The creationism of that period is called classical creationism. This current encompassed both those who thought that a creator god existed but did not deny evolutionism, as well as the fundamentalists who defended the literalness of what was related in Genesis.

USA

One of the countries in which creationism was strongest was the United States. There, starting in 1929, this theory was associated with those who totally rejected the idea of ​​evolution. This sector claimed that the Earth was only between 5,700 and 10,000 years old, ignoring any archaeological discoveries.

However, in the US there also grew another sector of creationists who supported the idea of ​​the young Earth, as well as a third formed by evolutionary creationists. In both cases, they accepted part of what was affirmed by science, without ceasing to consider that the whole was created by God.

Contemporary creationism

Faced with classical creationism, the contemporary tries to demonstrate his beliefs using disciplines belonging to the natural sciences. This current has been called scientific creationism by its supporters.

To present their scientific evidence, these creationists do not follow the scientific method or produce falsifiable hypotheses. For that reason, his works are not accepted by the vast majority of the scientific community.

Smart design

Another current trend of creationism, especially present in the United States, is the so-called intelligent design. According to his followers, the complexity of some biological structures can only be explained if some divine intervention has intervened.

Pro-evolution creationism

All the previous groups have taken a position against evolution. In front of them, there is another creationism that does accept that living beings have appeared through natural evolution. It is, rather, a philosophical current that does not try to replace evolutionary theory, but to complete it with religion.

Principles of creationism

All anti-evolutionary creationisms share a series of basic principles. With them, they try to argue the divine origin of the universe and of living beings.

Causality

The first of the principles that creationists use to justify their positions is that of causality. This is that every phenomenon must have a cause, so the universe and life must also have one.

According to their beliefs, this means that there must have been some purpose when creating the world and, necessarily, a divine figure who has made it.

Creationists have tried to use scientific laws such as those of thermodynamics, Mendel's, or biogenesis to provide a basis for their positions.

God created everything

For creationists there is a fundamental principle: God created the universe, the Earth, life and, above all, human beings. Depending on the current, some may come to admit a certain process of evolution.

When trying to explain the cause of extinctions, many creationists claim that God may have wanted to exterminate specific species for some reason.

Age of the earth

Creation antiquity is a controversial issue for creationists. One sector, the Young Earth, claims that the Earth is only between 6,000 and 10,000 years old. That figure is based on a literal reading of the Bible and studying the age of its characters.

On the other hand, another sector does take into account archaeological finds and astronomical studies carried out and accepts that the Earth is much older. However, they hold that life was present from the beginning and that evolution was designed by God.

Relationship of creationism and biology

The classical creationists do not accept many of the conclusions of the biologists. Others, on the other hand, are more open in this field and admit some discoveries.

Controversy

In their discussion with biologists, creationists often claim that the theory of evolution has become a religious dogma. In this way, try to deny the validity of the scientific studies carried out and reduce the controversy to a polemic between two religious beliefs.

Scientific creationism

The confrontation between biology as a science and the creationists was accentuated in the 60s of the last century. The investigations of the biologists dismantled most of the arguments of the creationists and they reacted by organizing themselves to spread their ideas.

Henry M. Morris, one of the most prominent representatives of American creationism, founded the Creation Science Research Center in California. This institution published numerous books on biology in which it tried to unite the discoveries of that science with the theses of creationism. Thus, the so-called scientific creationism was born.

Irreducible complexity

One of the arguments most used by scientific creationists and by defenders of intelligent design is that of irreducible complexity.

According to his thesis, extremely complex structures are found in nature that have not been able to appear naturally from simpler structures. Some of the examples they present are biological mechanisms present in bacteria or the mechanism that allows the immune system to adapt.

For them, these structures could not arise from natural selection, so they must have been created by God.

Darwin investigated the Galapagos finches as an example of natural selection (Source: Robert Taylor Pritchett via Wikimedia Commons)

Representatives of creationism

Since religions shaped beliefs for centuries, it could be argued that, with exceptions, everyone was a creationist until science began to develop.

It is from the appearance of theories that contradicted religious accounts that a reaction of defense of creationism appears, with some very prominent representatives.

James Usher

James Usher was archbishop at Trinity College in Dublin when he undertook the task of calculating when God had created the world. To do this, he studied Hebrew documents and the Bible and came to the conclusion that creation had taken place on October 22, 4004 BC. C.

Soon after, John Lightfoot of the University of Cambridge corrected Usher and stated that the true date was September 3928 BC. C.

Harold W. Clark

One of the most important representatives of creationism at the beginning of the 20th century was Harold W. Clark.

The young Clark was educated within the Seventh-day Adventist Church. In 1929 he published one of the books that has had the most influence among supporters of creation theory. The title was Back to Creationism and its content has caused Clark to be considered the greatest theorist on this belief in modern times.

Henry M. Morris and John C. Whitcomb

Morris and Whitcomb were the authors of the Genesis Flood, another of the most influential works within creationism. In fact, many of his followers have called this book "the bible of creationism."

The former devoted his entire life to seeking scientific arguments that could support what was reported in the Old Testament. For Morris, the theory of evolution was totally false and held that the Earth had been created shortly before the universal flood.

John C. Clement, for his part, distinguished himself by his strong belief in the literalness of the Bible. Thus, he affirmed that the world was created by God in six days and that it has remained unchanged ever since.

References

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