Creationism is the belief that a creation deity created the universe, with many cultures having their own creation myths. Abrahamic religions have associated creationism with a specific god and some reject evolution. The term “creationism” became associated with Christian fundamentalism in the US in the 1920s.
Creationism is the religious belief that the universe was created by a creation deity. Creationism first appeared in ancient pagan religions, and many cultures around the world have creation myths, despite being widely separated in time and space. This phenomenon suggests that a creation myth may be a human universal, or nearly so. Today, creationism is closely associated with Abrahamic religions such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, but for many thousands of years, creationism has been a belief unrelated to any of these relatively modern religions.
Throughout its long history, creationism has provided a concrete answer to a long-standing question: How did Nature come about and why is it so complex? Until the publication of Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species in 1858, there were few valid opponents to the idea that a being created Nature on purpose. However, even among creationists, there was always great disagreement as to which god or gods was responsible for creating the world. Generally, such beliefs would reflect local culture and tradition: Aboriginal people had the Dreamtime, different Native American tribes had their own beliefs, early Europeans believed in a variety of harvest, war and fertility gods, etc.
Over the past two thousand years, Abrahamic religions have spread across much of the face of the earth, converting billions and associating creationism with the idea of a specific Abrahamic god. Many creationists reject evolution, arguing that Christian creation theology should be taught in science classrooms alongside Darwinian theory. Most scientists vehemently reject creationism and the controversy rages on. Creationists vary in the degree to which they conceive of their god or gods as an active participant in the development of the cosmos or just an initial creator and later observer. Many creationists believe in Darwinian evolution, claiming that although their god initially created the universe in the beginning, he did not create individual animals, which instead evolved over billions of years from single-celled ancestors. This position has been termed theistic evolution.
Around 1929, the term “creationism” began to be strongly associated in the United States with a new wave of Christian fundamentalism, especially popular in the nation’s Midwest. These new creationists emphasized a literal interpretation of the book of Genesis, which states that the world and all of its initial inhabitants, including the ancestors of all living humans and animals, were created in seven days approximately 6,000-10,000 years ago, a depending on their interpretation of the genealogies of the Bible. These creationists are some of the most enthusiastic supporters of the idea of creationism and clash most strongly with anti-creationist scientists.
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