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Two Worldviews in Conflict
What do thousands of scientists believe about creation and evolution?
Chapter Introduction
When discussing the topic of the origins of life, most people associate evolution with science, and creation with religion. Evolution is the scientific explanation, while creation is the religious one. These two viewpoints, evolution and creation, have today become the major competing explanations regarding life’s origins.
The theory of creation
(sometimes called scientific
creationism) says that the universe
and living organisms
originated from specific acts of
divine creation as told in the biblical account. This theory was prevalent in the mid 19th
century until Charles Darwin first introduced the theory of
evolution in his 1859 publication, Origin of Species. This new
theory of evolution hypothesized that, from non-living matter,
simple living organisms formed and progressed naturally
into complex ones.
Today the theory of evolution has become widely known
as the only scientific explanation for the origin of life, and the
theory of creation is commonly understood to be based solely
on religious beliefs. This is because there seems to be a lack of
scientific evidence supporting the biblical claims of creation,
while evolution appears to be supported by a vast body of
scientific evidence. As a result, most educational institutes teach
the theory of evolution as the sole explanation for human origins.
However, in recent years there has been a growing number
of scientists who reject evolution, as new research has begun
to seriously call into question some of the dogmatic beliefs
of evolutionary theory. There are now thousands of fully
accredited scientists around the world, and the number continues
to rise, who believe there is more evidence to support
creation than evolution. In fact, while many new discoveries
are being made, the evidence used largely against creation,
and in support of evolution, appears to be quickly crumbling.
The weight of the evidence is shifting so steeply that as recently
as 1999, one school board in the United States banned
the testing of the theory of evolution from its science curriculum.[]
The media has generally laughed at this decision, alleging
it was made on a purely religious basis, yet the evidence
used is strong. Some of the main arguments against evolution
and for creation are presented on the following pages of this
chapter.[]
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