Creationism

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A wise man once said...

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Creationism (also known as bullshit, or brainwashing) is the term given to a teleological explanation of existence, specifically: that all the universe and life were directly created by God (i.e. through magic,^[1] not Big Bang, or abiogenesis), and that there is a purpose to all creation known only to the Supreme Deity (who is not talking).^[2]

Belief in a literal reading of Genesis or another suitable holy text is foundational to creationism; a tenet shared by fundamentalist version of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, and popularized in the west by the American Christian fundamentalist movement. In recent years, there have been attempts to come up with scientific rationalizations for these beliefs. Intelligent design, creation science, and cdesign proponentsism are three labels that have been applied to creationism in an attempt to give the concept an air of scientific legitimacy. The Discovery Institute is currently the leader in finding quasi-scientific rationale for creationism through the Wedge strategy.

The word "creationism" is very often used as a synonym for a more specific creationist belief known as "young earth creationism". Other varieties of creationism are sometimes more benign, such as the deist belief that God created the universe (i.e. caused the Big Bang), but everything else is exactly how the scientists say it is.

[edit] Categories

Creationists can be categorized in a number of ways, including:

• Religion: Creationists can be of virtually any religious stripe, from fundamentalist Christians to Pastafarians — or (in the case of alien life seeding) of no religion at all.
• Interpretation of Genesis: Young earth creationists believe Genesis is historically and scientifically accurate. No one else does.
• Age of the Earth: Most sane people think, based on voluminous evidence, that the Earth is billions of years old. Young earth creationists believe that Earth is around 6,000 years old with some estimates dating as far back as 10,000 years.
• Identity of creator: Biblical creationists believe the creator was the God of the Bible, or YHWH. Advocates of (un)intelligent design commit bald-faced lies in public — and even commit perjury — relative to their concept of the identity of the creator.^[3] Extraterrestrial creationists believe that creation was performed by beings from another planet, or beyond the solar system, who came to earth by accident or on a life-seeding mission across the galaxy. Some even suggest that the creators of the whole universe were from a parallel universe and that we will also someday create parallel universes.^[4]

[edit] Old earth creationism

Main article: Old earth creationism

Old earth creationists accept conventional dating methods for the age of the Earth (deep time), including radiometric dating and ice-core dating. Nevertheless, they believe that life was deliberately created. Evolutionary Creationists believe the creation event took place, and life subsequently developed through the process of evolution. Day-Age creationists believe the creation took place as recorded in Genesis, but that each of the "days" represents a vast period of time. Gap creationists believe that the Earth was created millions of years ago, but then laid waste, and repopulated as recorded in Genesis 1:2 and on. Other OECs believe that Genesis records the terraforming of the Earth, rather than the creation of the Earth ex nihilo.

[edit] Young earth creationism

Main article: Young earth creationism

YEC rejects radiometric dating methods based on criticisms of the method, and instead accepts Ussherian calculations of the creation. While they acknowledge that microevolution occurs, they reject naturalistic abiogenesis and common descent, based on a number of criticisms of both concepts. Instead, they believe that God created various lifeforms in something resembling their present forms, and that microevolution subsequently led to a degree of diversification among species.

Some also believe that the universe itself is only 6,000 years old. In these cases, physical constants, such as the speed of light, are often reinterpreted as "inconstant" to explain phenomena such as distant starlight.

[edit] Intelligent design

Who made the maker?

Main article: Intelligent design

Intelligent design (ID) is an idea fundamental to the "mainstreaming" of creationism. It is the teleological argument or belief that complexity requires design. Emergence and complexity theory are inherently incompatible with ID.

[edit] Two creation stories

According to Genesis 1, God creates the world in six days, resting on the seventh, with Man and Woman being created simultaneously, after the plants and animals. However, according to Genesis 2, God creates Man, then the plants and animals, then Woman. Which is right?

Apparently, the creationist answer to this conundrum is... not to answer it. RationalWiki editors eagerly await a compelling reply from creationists.

[edit] Muslim creationism

Although creationism in the west is more usually associated with Christianity, the Muslim world has its own brand of crazies. Probably the most famous is the Turkish Creationist Harun Yahya. In recent years, he has become one of the more vocal creationists and some of his publicity stunts and ramblings would make even Ted Haggard blush.

[edit] Creationism and evolution are reconciled

You saw it here first

A satirical cartoon from 1903 was recently discovered that manages to get both the creationist and scientific versions of the origins of Man into one neat package (see image at right). ^[5]

[edit] Creationgrams

• O! Ist a cretin!
• O! I's am cretin! (for creationism)
• Saint Erotic
• Satiric Tone
• Ratio Incest

[edit] See also

• Old Earth creationism
• Young Earth creationism
• Creation science
• Creation Week
• Creation and social history
• Creationism in schools
• Creationist escape hatches
• Evidence against a recent creation
• Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
• Expelled:Leader's Guide
• Fundamentalist debate tactics
• Geoscience Research Institute
• Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District
• List of creationist papers published in Nature
• List of scientists who support creationism
• List of scientists who became creationists after studying the evidence
• Lists of pseudosciences
• Pseudoscience
• The incontrovertible evidence of common descent
• Willful ignorance
• B.H. Shadduck, author
• Scientific storkism

[edit] External links

• A list of Things Creationists Hate. It's a big list.
• Scientific American: 15 Answers to Creationist Nonsense
• Scientific American: The Latest Face of Creationism in the Classroom
• The “Threat” of Creationism, by Isaac Asimov published in Science and Creationism (in 1984!!! still crazy after all these years)
• Geological Society of London doesn't like creationism (or Intelligent Design)
• Geological Society of Australia Intelligent Design Policy (PDF)
• Lewis Black explains Creationist Bullshit

[edit] Footnotes