Young Earth creationism

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Young Earth creationism (YEC) is a form of creationism which holds as a central tenet that the Earth and its lifeforms were created by supernatural acts of the Abrahamic God between about 6,000 and 10,000 years ago.[1][2] In its most widespread version, YEC is based on the religious belief in the inerrancy of certain literal interpretations of the Book of Genesis.[3][4] Its primary adherents are Christians and Jews who believe that God created the Earth in six literal days.[5][6]

This is in contrast with old Earth creationism (OEC), which holds literal interpretations of Genesis that are compatible with the scientifically determined ages of the Earth[7][8] and universe, and theistic evolution, which posits that the scientific principles of evolution, the Big Bang, abiogenesis, solar nebular theory, age of the universe, and age of Earth are compatible with a metaphorical interpretation of the Genesis creation account.[9]

Since the mid-20th century, young Earth creationists—starting with Henry Morris (1918–2006)—have developed and promoted a pseudoscientific[10] explanation called creation science as a basis for a religious belief in a supernatural, geologically recent creation, in response to the scientific acceptance of Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution, which was developed over the previous century. Contemporary YEC movements arose in protest to the scientific consensus, established by numerous scientific disciplines, which demonstrates that the age of the universe is around 13.8 billion years, the formation of the Earth and Solar System happened around 4.6 billion years ago, and the origin of life occurred roughly 4 billion years ago.[11][12][13][14]

A 2017 Gallup creationism survey found that 38 percent of adults in the United States held the view that "God created humans in their present form at some time within the last 10,000 years or so" when asked for their views on the origin and development of human beings, which Gallup noted was the lowest level in 35 years.[15] It was suggested that the level of support could be lower when poll results are adjusted after comparison with other polls with questions that more specifically account for uncertainty and ambivalence.[16] Gallup found that, when asking a similar question in 2019, 40 percent of US adults held the view that "God created [human beings] in their present form within roughly the past 10,000 years."[17]

Among the biggest young Earth creationist organizations are Answers in Genesis, Institute for Creation Research and Creation Ministries International.

  1. ^ "The Age of the Earth – Creationism and a Young Earth: Professor Heaton". apps.usd.edu. Archived from the original on 30 October 2021. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  2. ^ Numbers 2006, p. 8
  3. ^ Ruse, Michael (Winter 2018). Edward N. Zalta (ed.). "Creationism (First published Aug 30, 2003; substantive revision Sep 21, 2018)". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2018 ed.).
  4. ^ Scott, Eugenie Carol (with foreword by Niles Eldredge) (2004). Evolution vs. Creationism: an Introduction. Berkeley & Los Angeles: University of California Press. p. xii. ISBN 978-0-520-24650-8. Retrieved 3 June 2014. Creationism is about maintaining particular, narrow forms of religious belief – beliefs that seem to their adherents to be threatened by the very idea of evolution.
  5. ^ James-Griffiths, P. "Creation days and Orthodox Jewish tradition". Creation. 26 (2): 53–55. Retrieved 3 July 2007.
  6. ^ Numbers 2006, pp. 10–11
  7. ^ Eugenie Scott (13 February 2018). "The Creation/Evolution Continuum". NCSE. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
  8. ^ McIver, Tom (Fall 1988). "Formless and Void: Gap Theory Creationism". Creation/Evolution. 8 (3): 1–24. We can allow geology the amplest time … without infringing even on the literalities of the Mosaic record
  9. ^ "Theistic Evolution: History and Beliefs – Articles". BioLogos. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
  10. ^ "'Scientific' Creationism as a Pseudoscience – NCSE". 15 December 2008.
  11. ^ Trollinger, Susan L.; Trollinger, William Vance Jr. (2017). "Chapter 31: The Bible and Creationism". In Gutjahr, Paul (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of the Bible in America. Oxford University Press. pp. 217ff. ISBN 978-0190258856.
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference IAPStatement was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Planck Collaboration (2016). "Planck 2015 results. XIII. Cosmological parameters (See Table 4 on p. 31 of pfd)". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 594: A13. arXiv:1502.01589. Bibcode:2016A&A...594A..13P. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201525830. S2CID 119262962.
  14. ^ Bennett, C.L. (2013). "Nine-Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Final Maps and Results". The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. 208 (2): 20. arXiv:1212.5225. Bibcode:2013ApJS..208...20B. doi:10.1088/0067-0049/208/2/20. S2CID 119271232.
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference Gallup2017 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  16. ^ Branch, Glenn (2017). "Understanding Gallup's Latest Poll on Evolution". Skeptical Inquirer. 41 (5): 5–6.
  17. ^ Brenan, Megan (26 July 2019). "40% of Americans Believe in Creationism". Gallup. Retrieved 5 May 2020.