Pseudo-Science: CreationismQuestions on the origin of life and of the universe must have challenged human curiosity and imagination as soon as early man had time for activities other than survival. In 1859, Charles Darwin published the Origin of Species, and since then, people have debated between the creationism and evolutionism theories. For the first time there was a theory that said the universe was not created by a supreme being and so began the debate. Creationists believe in a divine creator, God. Creationism has a broad range of beliefs involving a reliance on God’s miraculous work to explain the origin of the universe, of life, and of the different kinds of plants and animals on Earth. According to the creationist view, God willed everything into existence, and this is how humans came onto the Earth. Creationists say that the evolution theory is biased and incomplete. They believe that the fossil records fail to provide a link between diverse groups. To find out how old fossils are, scientists use a method called radioisotope dating, which measures the amount of uranium or lead lost over the years. Creationists deny evidence from this testing because they assume no uranium or lead has been lost over the years. Creationism grew as a result of the advancement of evolution that was evident after the publication in 1859 of Darwin’s Origin of Species. Within two decades, most of the scientific community had accepted some form of organic evolution. Many religious leaders, however, feared that a less-than-literal reading of the biblical story of creation would result in a loss of faith; and well-known spokesmen for the cause–such as William Jennings Bryan–saw modern war and other purported signs of moral decay to be evidence of the damage brought about by the teaching of godless evolution. The issue was argued on a number of platforms, one of the most famous being the Scopes Trial (1925), in which a high school teacher was convicted of unlawfully teaching the theory of evolution. In the United States, creationism faced a strong denial–in legal terms–in 1987, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states may not require public schools to teach the creationist theory of human origin alongside evolution if such requirements are intended to promote religious belief. It was further determined that those states that had sought to “alter the science curriculum to reflect endorsement of a religious view that is antagonistic to the theory of evolution” were breaking the First Amendment ban on the establishment of religion. 1The biggest flaw with creation science is that we are ignoring the very things that make religion what it is today. Religion is a test of faith, and if the was ever a word the did a poorer job of defining a characteristic of science then I would be interested to hear it. As a matter of fact religion itself would not allow any of its beliefs to be held as scientific. During the early middle ages Thomas Aquinas established the 5 proofs. These were designed as scientific proofs to prove that God existed. The were short-lived to say the least. A vehement rejection of this idea that science could prove religion and in it creation, occurred not long after his death. So for creation to be called a science is preposterous. Those who call it a science are far from sanity.The definition of creationism is complex. One must start by saying that the belief in the creation of the universe given at the beginning of the Bible is literally true. Creationism is a belief based solely upon faith (which is a belief in and of itself). There are no scientific facts as a basis for this belief, solely conjectural theories and speculations, so how can we say this is science? It is ingrained into our minds, as children that a belief of a force, or supernatural entity, which is all powerful and all knowing, is watching over us and taking care of our needs. Yet, to me, saying this very sort of thing is heretical in its very essence. To be so crude as to think that some being which created the universe itself and all things in it would take the time to care for each and every individual is incomprehensible. In practically all ancient cultures, the biblical included, the universe was thought of as an original chaos into which order had been introduced by a creative hand: This was the essence of creation.2 In this statement alone we can see one of the major flaws of creationism. While science can prove without doubt the universe up to the first 20 milliseconds of existence, we cannot prove anything before that point at this time. The statement above, regarding creationism, suggests that there was no beginning, only chaos. Subsequently this “creative hand” structured the order of the universe out of chaos and applied physical laws to that chaos so it would form itself into motion and order. Yet, creationism as a whole does not touch base upon what came before the chaos. While science admits that there was a time in which different laws and order applied; creationism attempts to deny this existence by saying that there was always something. For if there was indeed a beginning and there was no God before this time, where did God come from? We can scientifically prove that there was a beginning. We cannot yet ascertain what was before this beginning, but we now know that there was one. To suggest that the universe has always existed is a mere myth today. Much like the myth that the world was once flat. Today, we take for granted that the world is indeed round, for have we not seen pictures from the space shuttle in orbit of the earth. Not to mention the multitude of orbital shots from satellites. Consequently we would consider it preposterous if someone attempted to tell us that the world is a flat surface. Yet, upon blind faith, some are content to believe that a “creative hand” structured this existence. Although the figures (Gods) differ from mythos to mythos, all the ancient stories intend simply to give a poetic accounting for cosmic origins.3Many creationists will argue that the universe is too ordered; the path of the planets (which meant wanderers, or great wanderers in early Grecian society) is too ordered, too perfect. I will start by asking you to attempt to define perfect (as it existed at that time). In the creationalistic point of view, a person might write it off as the act of God. It was his divine will that moved the planets together in such a way as to be able to support life. Or you could ask the more worldly scientist who would explain to you about the Law of Probability, the Theory of Relativity, and show you lengthy mathematical equations dealing with Quantum and Theoretical Physics. In the end, you would likely have a headache of immense size, but come away with perhaps a better understanding of how the order of events, and the laws which created, ordered and structured the planets to exist as they do. Many creationism fanatics will also attempt to dissuade the argument of evolution by saying that the Big Bang is merely a theory. The only reply that the scientific world can refute this with is the fact that relativity and gravity, are also theories. This argument by creationists is obviously not in their favor.4For me to accept creationism as a science one simple thing must occur, scientific data. No hypothesis can be proven or refuted without data. Religion is a question of faith and in faith science is lost.
Bibliography:___________________________1″Evolution,” Microsoftr Encartar 96 Encyclopedia. c 1993-1995 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. c Funk & Wagnalls Corporation. All rights reserved.
2″Creation,” Microsoftr Encartar 96 Encyclopedia. c 1993-1995 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. c Funk & Wagnalls Corporation. All rights reserved.
3″Creation,” Microsoftr Encartar 96 Encyclopedia. c 1993-1995 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. c Funk & Wagnalls Corporation. All rights reserved.
4″Cosmology,” Microsoftr Encartar 96 Encyclopedia. c 1993-1995 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. c Funk & Wagnalls Corporation. All rights reserved.
Creation”,Microsoftr Encartar 96 Encyclopedia. c 1993-1995 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. c Funk & Wagnalls Corporation. All rights reserved.
