Creation science is the attempt to find scientific evidence that would justify a literal interpretation of the Biblical account of creation. There are variants of creation science which draw on other religious texts. Biblical literalism is the supposed adherence to the explicit and literal sense of the Bible. ... This article is about the biblical text. ...

The scientific community regards the term "creation science" as a misnomer. Scientists criticize creation science as a pseudoscience that does not conform to the scientific method^[1] since creation science does not attempt to propose or test any mechanisms by which creation could occur.^[2][3] This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Phrenology is regarded today as a classic example of pseudoscience. ... Scientific method is a body of techniques for investigating phenomena and acquiring new knowledge, as well as for correcting and integrating previous knowledge. ...

Most of the published material advocating creation science consists of criticisms of the data that support evolution or geology. This work is normally published in specialized periodicals established by religious organisations.^[4]

When United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled in 1975, in the case Daniel v. Waters, that teaching creationism in United States public schools was unconstitutional, various states introduced legislation defining "creation science" and requiring that it be taught alongside evolution.^[5] McLean v. Arkansas concluded that this was also unconstitutional, and that "creation-science" is simply not science.^[6] Creationists subsequently changed the name to intelligent design.^[7] Daniel v. ... Creationism is a concept that only stupid people believe in. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... McLean v. ... Creationism is a concept that only stupid people believe in. ... For other uses, see Intelligent design (disambiguation). ...

Beliefs and activities

Most creation science proponents hold fundamentalist or evangelical Christian beliefs in biblical literalism or biblical inerrancy, as opposed to the higher criticism supported by Liberal Christianity in the Fundamentalist-Modernist Controversy. However, there are also examples of Islamic creationism^[8][9][10] and members of other religious communities which exhibit similar attitudes. Fundamentalist Christianity, or Christian fundamentalism, is a movement that arose mainly within British and American Protestantism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by conservative evangelical Christians, who, in a reaction to modernism, actively affirmed a fundamental set of Christian beliefs: the inerrancy of the Bible, Sola Scriptura, the... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box:      The word evangelicalism often refers to... Biblical literalism is the supposed adherence to the explicit and literal sense of the Bible. ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box:      Biblical inerrancy is the doctrinal position... Higher criticism, also known as historical criticism, is a branch of literary analysis that attempts to investigate the origins of a text, especially the text of the Bible. ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Wycliffe Tyndale · Luther · Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box:      Liberal Christianity, sometimes called... The Fundamentalist-Modernist Controversy was a religious controversy within the Presbyterian Church in the USA. It is conventionally dated as beginning with the preaching of Harry Emerson Fosdicks sermon Shall the Fundamentalists Win? in 1922 and ending with J. Gresham Machen and a number of other conservative Presbyterian theologians... Islamic creationism – While contemporary Islam tends to take religious texts very literally, it sees Genesis as a corrupted version of Gods message. ...

There are two main branches of creationism, one starting with a belief in an old earth and the other starting with a belief in a young earth. Historical scientists, or natural philosophers, such as Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin, may be described as holding Old Earth creationist views. The Old Earth creationist view is compatible with standard scientific models of a very old universe. In contrast, the relatively recent Young Earth Creationist view holds the age of the universe to be approximately six thousand years. Sir Isaac Newton FRS (4 January 1643 – 31 March 1727) [ OS: 25 December 1642 – 20 March 1727][1] was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, and alchemist. ... For other people of the same surname, and places and things named after Charles Darwin, see Darwin. ... Old Earth creationism is a variant of the creationist view of the origin of the universe and life on Earth. ... ...

Creation science rejects the common descent of all life through evolution. Instead, it asserts that evolutionary biology is itself pseudoscientific or even a religion and argues in favor of creation biology.^[11] A group of organisms is said to have common descent if they have a common ancestor. ... This article is about evolution in biology. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Phrenology is regarded today as a classic example of pseudoscience. ... Creation biology,examines biology from a creationist perspective which assumes that God created all life on the planet as described in the Genesis account of Creation, in a finite number of discrete created kinds or baramins. ...

Creation science also rejects the science of geology as it uses uniformitarianism, which is the concept that processes occurring in the present have operated in the past and will continue in the future.^[12] As a result, explanations of gradual processes, such as mountain building by colliding plates, are discarded by creationists in favor of catastrophism, which asserts that occasional cataclysms formed geological features such as mountains and valleys.^[13] Through study of such features, they attempt to infer the effects of flood geology based on their belief in the historical accuracy of Genesis. This article includes a list of works cited but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. ... Uniformitarianism, in the philosophy of science, is the assumption that the natural processes operating in the past are the same as those that can be observed operating in the present. ... Catastrophism is the theory that Earth has been affected by sudden, short-lived, violent events that were sometimes worldwide in scope. ... Flood geology (also creation geology or diluvial geology) is a prominent subset of beliefs under the umbrella of creationism that assumes the literal truth of a global flood as described in the Genesis account of Noahs Ark. ... Genesis (‎, Greek: Γένεσις, meaning birth, creation, cause, beginning, source or origin) is the first book of the Torah, the Tanakh, and the Old Testament of the Bible. ...

Sometimes creation scientists attack other scientific concepts, like the big bang cosmological model or models of radioactive decay. The Young Earth Creationist branch of the creation scientists may also reject current estimates of the age of the universe, arguing for creationist cosmologies with ages much less than the standard scientifically-accepted ages. For other uses, see Big Bang (disambiguation). ... ... The age of the universe, in Big Bang cosmology, refers to the time elapsed between the Big Bang and the present day. ... Creationist cosmologies are pseudoscientific arguments by various creationists that a significant portion of the observable universe is a few thousands of years old, and as such, run contrary to the Big Bang Theory, which states that all of the universe is billions of years old. ...

When the ideas encompassed by creation science are subjected to the scrutiny of scientific criticism or peer-review, they are found to be lacking in scientific foundation, objective criticism of evidence, and scientific reasoning and method. The science community does not take creation science seriously for these and other reasons. From the late 1800s the word paradigm refers to a thought pattern in any scientific discipline or other epistemological context. ... In philosophy generally, empiricism is a theory of knowledge emphasizing the role of experience in the formation of ideas, while discounting the notion of innate ideas. ...

Some creation science advocates have spent many years arguing for the inclusion of creation science in the science curriculum of U.S. public schools. However, in 1987 in the case Edwards v. Aguillard the Supreme Court of the United States held that a requirement that public schools teach creation science alongside evolution as an alternative theory violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.^[14] Educational oversight Secretary Deputy Secretary U.S. Department of Education Margaret Spellings Raymond Simon National education budget $1. ... Holding Teaching creationism in public schools is unconstitutional because it attempts to advance a particular religion. ... Federal courts Supreme Court Circuit Courts of Appeal District Courts Elections Presidential elections Midterm elections Political Parties Democratic Republican Third parties State & Local government Governors Legislatures (List) State Courts Local Government Other countries  Atlas  Politics Portal      The Supreme Court of the United States (sometimes colloquially referred to by the acronym... The first ten Amendments to the U.S. Constitution make up the Bill of Rights. ... The Bill of Rights in the National Archives The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is a part of the United States Bill of Rights. ...

History and organization

Main article: history of creationism

The doctrine of creation is a fundamental and ancient precept of many faiths including Christianity. The vast majority of Christian Church Fathers and Protestant Reformers accepted a literal interpretation of Genesis, and even the few who did not, such as Origen and Augustine, defended an earth that was on the order of thousands of years old. An understanding of Genesis, literal or otherwise, requires the harmonisation of the two creation stories, Genesis 1:1-2:3 and Genesis 2:4-25. Some interpretation is required to resolve inconsistencies in the text.[1][2]. A literal interpretation of Genesis cannot be considered to be the Christian consensus. According to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, world leader of Anglicans: "[for] most of the history of Christianity there's been an awareness that a belief that everything depends on the creative act of God, is quite compatible with a degree of uncertainty or latitude about how precisely that unfolds in creative time. "^[15] The history of creationism is tied to the history of religions. ... Creation is a doctrinal position in many religions which maintains that one or a group of gods or deities is responsible for creating the universe. ... Faith has two general implications which can be implied either exclusively or mutually; To Trust: Believing a certain variable will act a specific way despite the potential influence of known or unknown change. ... Christianity percentage by country, purple is highest, orange is lowest Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Wycliffe Tyndale · Luther · Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box:      The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers... The Protestant Reformation, begun 1517 with the nailing of Martin Luthers 95 theses to a church door in Wittenberg, divided the Roman Catholic Church and created the Protestant branch of churches. ... Origen Origen (Greek: ÅŒrigénÄ“s, 185–ca. ... “Augustinus” redirects here. ...

The widening of literacy associated with the Protestant Reformation brought a more literal way of thinking about creation.^[16] At the same time a new interest in natural history found that there were far more species of organisms than had been anticipated,^[17] and findings in geology directly contradicted the Biblical timeframe for the age of the Earth as detailed for instance in the Ussher chronology.^[18] From the late seventeenth century through to the mid nineteenth century natural theology increasingly popularized the concept that Christian faith should be based on what can be rationally demonstrated, and the study of nature should reveal the intelligence, benevolence, and power of God.^[19] In a complex and lively debate between various viewpoints including deism and materialism, several of the ideas put forward to explain the discoveries anticipated modern creationist arguments. For example, catastrophism attempted to reconcile geological findings with the Biblical flood.^[18] Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box:      For other uses, see Reformation (disambiguation). ... Table of natural history, 1728 Cyclopaedia Natural history is an umbrella term for what are now often viewed as several distinct scientific disciplines of integrative organismal biology. ... The hierarchy of scientific classification. ... This article includes a list of works cited but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. ... Earth as seen from Apollo 17 Modern geologists consider the age of the Earth to be around 4. ... The Ussher chronology is a 17th-century chronology of the history of the world formulated from an interpretative reading of the Bible by James Ussher, the Anglican Archbishop of Armagh (in what is now Northern Ireland). ... Natural theology is the knowledge of God accessible to all rational human beings without recourse to any special or supposedly supernatural revelation. ... For other uses, see Ceremonial Deism. ... In philosophy, materialism is that form of physicalism which holds that the only thing that can truly be said to exist is matter; that fundamentally, all things are composed of material and all phenomena are the result of material interactions; that matter is the only substance. ... Catastrophism is the theory that Earth has been affected by sudden, short-lived, violent events that were sometimes worldwide in scope. ...

Various ideas of transmutation of species were put forward, and though they conflicted with the doctrine of fixity of species (now known as "special creation") and were harshly condemned as a threat to the aristocratic social order and the established Church of England, by the 1840s they had wide public acceptance and were favored by liberal theologians, Unitarians and some Dissenters as well as by Freethinkers and atheists. When the eminent scientist Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species in 1859 this work of natural theology won over the scientific establishment, and by the 1900s evolution through descent with modification was widely accepted as the unifying principle of biological development.^[17] Transmutation of species refers to the altering of one species into another. ... Special creation describes a mechanism for producing life on earth that is promoted by special creationists following an agenda known as special creationism. In general, special creation is a type of belief about the origin of life on earth. ... The Church of England logo since 1998 The Church of England is the officially established Christian church[1] in England, and acts as the mother and senior branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion, as well as a founding member of the Porvoo Communion. ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Wycliffe Tyndale · Luther · Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box:      Liberal Christianity, sometimes called... Historic Unitarianism believed in the oneness of God as opposed to traditional Christian belief in the Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). ... The term dissenter (from the Latin dissentire, to disagree), labels one who dissents or disagrees in matters of opinion, belief, etc. ... Freethought is a philosophical viewpoint that holds that beliefs should be formed on the basis of science and logical principles and not be compromised by authority, tradition, or any other dogma. ... “Atheist” redirects here. ... For other people of the same surname, and places and things named after Charles Darwin, see Darwin. ... The 1859 edition of On the Origin of Species First published in 1859, The Origin of Species (full title On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life) by British naturalist Charles Darwin is one of the pivotal... This article is about evolution in biology. ...

Twentieth century creationism

Teaching of evolution was introduced in public schools in the United States, but in the aftermath of the First World War the growth of fundamentalist Christianity led to the creationist movement successfully prohibiting such teaching with legislation such as the Butler Act of 1925.^[16] When the 1957 Sputnik raised concerns, the National Defense Education Act introduced new programs including the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study starting in 1959 which introduced up-to-date textbooks teaching evolution as the foundation of biological science. These were used in almost half of high schools, though the prohibitions were still in place and a 1961 attempt to repeal the Butler Act failed.^[20] Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ... Look up fundamentalism in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Creationism is a concept that only stupid people believe in. ... The Butler Act was a 1925 Tennessee law forbidding the teaching of any evolutionary theory which indicated that man descended from lower orders of animals in public schools. ... Sputnik 1 The Sputnik program was a series of unmanned space missions launched by the Soviet Union in the late 1950s to demonstrate the viability of artificial satellites. ... The National Defense Education Act (NDEA) is a United States Act of Congress, passed in 1958 providing aid to education in the United States at all levels, both public and private. ... The Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS) is an American non-profit organization that develops curricular materials based on science and technology for schools. ...

Creation science (dubbed Scientific Creationism at the time) emerged as an organized movement during the 1960s. Some consider the first serious creation science writer to be Canadian George McCready Price who wrote several books, most notably The New Geology of 1923, which attempted to contradict mainstream geological understandings of timeframes and geologic history, and was cited at the Scopes Trial of 1925. His views did not become common among creationists at the time, but were revived with the 1961 publication of The Genesis Flood by Henry M. Morris and John C. Whitcomb. Subsequently, advocates of creation science expanded their critiques into biology and cosmology, and sought to have the subject taught in United States public schools. George McCready Price (1870 — 1963) was a Canadian creationist. ... The geologic timescale is used by geologists and other scientists to describe the timing and relationships between events that have occured during the history of the Earth. ... The Scopes Trial (, often called the Scopes Monkey Trial) was a watershed in the creation-evolution controversy that pitted lawyers William Jennings Bryan and Clarence Darrow against each other (the latter representing teacher John Thomas Scopes) in an American legal case that tested a law passed on March 13, 1925... The Genesis Flood: The Biblical Record and its Scientific Implications is a 1961 book by the young earth creationists John C. Whitcomb and Henry M. Morris. ... Henry M. Morris Henry Madison Morris, Ph. ... John C. Whitcomb Dr John Clement Whitcomb, Jr. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... Physical cosmology, as a branch of astrophysics, is the study of the large-scale structure of the universe and is concerned with fundamental questions about its formation and evolution. ...

Legal definition, creation science found not to be science

The various state laws prohibiting teaching of evolution were challenged in 1968 at Epperson v. Arkansas which ruled that they were unconstitutional, and the creationist movement turned to promoting creation science as equal to evolutionary theory. In 1981 Arkansas Act 590 mandated that "creation science" be given equal time in public schools with evolution.^[20] Creation science was defined as follows: Holding States may not require curricula to align with the views of any particular religion. ...

"Creation science means the scientific evidences for creation and inferences from those evidences. Creation science includes the scientific evidences and related inferences that indicate:

1. Sudden creation of the universe, energy and life from nothing.
2. The insufficiency of mutation and natural selection in bringing about development of all living kinds from a single organism.
3. Changes only with fixed limits of originally created kinds of plants and animals.
4. Separate ancestry for man and apes.
5. Explanation of the earth's geology by catastrophism, including the occurrence of worldwide flood.
6. A relatively recent inception of the earth and living kinds."

This legislation was examined in McLean v. Arkansas, and the ruling handed down on January 5, 1982, concluded that "creation-science" as defined above "is simply not science". The judgement defined the essential characteristics of science as being: McLean v. ... January 5 is the 5th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar). ...

1. It is guided by natural law;
2. It has to be explanatory by reference to nature law;
3. It is testable against the empirical world;
4. Its conclusions are tentative, i.e. are not necessarily the final word; and
5. It is falsifiable.

and found that "creation science" failed to meet these essential characteristics for the following reasons.

1. Sudden creation "from nothing" is not science because it depends upon a supernatural intervention which is not guided by natural law, is not explanatory by reference to natural law, is not testable and is not falsifiable.
2. "insufficiency of mutation and natural selection" is an incomplete negative generalization.
3. "changes only within fixed limits of originally created kinds" fails as there is no scientific definition of "kinds", the assertion appears to be an effort to establish outer limits of changes within species but there is no scientific explanation for these limits which is guided by natural law and the limitations, whatever they are, cannot be explained by natural law.
4. "separate ancestry of man and apes" is a bald assertion which explains nothing and refers to no scientific fact or theory.
5. Catastrophism and any kind of Genesis Flood depend upon supernatural intervention, and cannot be explained by natural law.
6. "Relatively recent inception" has no scientific meaning, is not the product of natural law; not explainable by natural law; nor is it tentative.
7. No recognized scientific journal has published an article espousing the creation science theory as described in the Act, and though some witnesses suggested that the scientific community was "close-minded" and so had not accepted the arguments, no witness produced a scientific article for which publication has been refused, and suggestions of censorship were not credible.
8. A scientific theory must be tentative and always subject to revision or abandonment in light of facts that are inconsistent with, or falsify, the theory. A theory that is by its own terms dogmatic, absolutist, and never subject to revision is not a scientific theory.
9. While anybody is free to approach a scientific inquiry in any fashion they choose, they cannot properly describe the methodology as scientific, if they start with the conclusion and refuse to change it regardless of the evidence developed during the course of the investigation. The creationists' methods do not take data, weigh it against the opposing scientific data, and thereafter reach the conclusions stated in [the Act] Instead, they take the literal wording of the Book of Genesis and attempt to find scientific support for it.

The Act took a two-model approach to teaching identical to the approach put forward by the Institute for Creation Research, which assumes only two explanations for the origins of life and existence of man, plants and animals: it was either the work of a creator or it was not. Creationists take this to mean that all scientific evidence which fails to support the theory of evolution is necessarily scientific evidence in support of creationism. The judgement found this to be simply a contrived dualism which has no scientific factual basis or legitimate educational purpose. The Institute for Creation Research (ICR) is a research institute based in Santee, California[2] that focuses on constructing and teaching a Young Earth Creationist world view. ... The form of the fallacy of false dichotomy as an argument map with the conclusion at the top of the tree. ...

The judge concluded that "Act 590 is a religious crusade, coupled with a desire to conceal this fact", and that it violated the First amendment's Establishment Clause.^[21] The Bill of Rights in the National Archives The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is a part of the United States Bill of Rights. ... The first ten Amendments to the U.S. Constitution make up the Bill of Rights. ...

The decision was not appealed to a higher court, but had a powerful influence on subsequent rulings.^[6] In 1982 Louisiana passed a "Balanced Treatment for Creation-Science and Evolution-Science in Public School Instruction" Act, and the Supreme Court found that it also violated the First amendment in Edwards v. Aguillard, 1987.^[20] Holding Teaching creationism in public schools is unconstitutional because it attempts to advance a particular religion. ...

Creation science renamed as intelligent design

In 1984 Dean H. Kenyon had presented an affidavit for what became Edwards v. Aguillard, giving the definition that "Creation-science means origin through abrupt appearance in complex form, and includes biological creation, biochemical creation (or chemical creation), and cosmic creation.", "Creation-science does not include as essential parts the concepts of catastrophism, a world-wide flood, a recent inception of the earth or life, from nothingness (ex nihilo), the concept of kinds, or any concepts from Genesis or other religious texts." ^[22] Dean H. Kenyon is Professor Emeritus of Biology at San Francisco State University and author of a controversial textbook on intelligent design. ... Holding Teaching creationism in public schools is unconstitutional because it attempts to advance a particular religion. ...

Immediately after the Edwards v. Aguillard decision, drafts of the creation science school textbook Of Pandas and People written by Kenyon and Percival Davis were revised to change all references to "creation" to relate to "intelligent design", and when this was published in 1989 it included the definition that "Intelligent design means that various forms of life began abruptly through an intelligent agency, with their distinctive features already intact. Fish with fins and scales, birds with feathers, beaks, wings, etc."^[23] This introduced intelligent design in all its essentials,^[24] and its publisher the Foundation for Thought and Ethics launched extensive campaigning by a movement promoting intelligent design. In the mid 1990s the movement was further developed under the leadership of the Discovery Institute, and attracted more creation science adherents to support the teaching of intelligent design under its 'big tent' strategy.^[25] The allied Teach the Controversy campaign claims that intelligent design is on par with the scientific theory of evolution and therefore that both should be taught in schools as equally worthy of consideration. Of Pandas and People: The Central Question of Biological Origins is a controversial 1989 (2nd edition 1993) school-level textbook written by Percival Davis and Dean H. Kenyon and published by the Texas-based Foundation for Thought and Ethics (FTE). ... Percival William Davis is an American author and activist in the intelligent design movement. ... For other uses, see Intelligent design (disambiguation). ... The Foundation for Thought and Ethics (FTE) is a non-profit organization based in Richardson, Texas that publishes textbooks and articles promoting intelligent design, abstinence, and Christian nationism. ... The Discovery Institute is a think tank structured as a non-profit foundation, founded in 1990 and based in Seattle, Washington, USA. The stated mission of the organization is to make a positive vision of the future practical. ... The intelligent design movement is a neo-creationist campaign that calls for broad social, academic and political changes derived from the concept of intelligent design. ... Teach the Controversy is the name of a Discovery Institute intelligent design campaign to promote intelligent design creationism while discrediting evolution in United States public high school science courses. ...

Creation science is distinguished from Neo-Creationism, which is largely associated with the intelligent design movement, in that most advocates of Creation science accept scripture as a foundation for their claims with their primary goal being to the validation of scripture as historical fact through the use of science. Neo-Creationism eschews references to scripture altogether from its polemics and stated goals as a matter of principle (see Wedge strategy). By so doing, intelligent design proponents hope to succeed where creation science has failed in securing a place in public school science curriculum. Carefully avoiding any reference to the identity of the intelligent designer as God in their public arguments, intelligent design proponents believe that their movement will return a version of creationism back to science classrooms without violating the First Amendment.^[26][27] However, this effort was struck down as a violation of the Establishment Clause in Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District. Neo-creationism is a movement whose goal is to restate creationism in terms more likely to be well received by the public, policy makers, educators, and the scientific community. ... The intelligent design movement is a neo-creationist campaign that calls for broad social, academic and political changes derived from the concept of intelligent design. ... Polemic is the art or practice of disputation or controversy, as in religious, philosophical, or political matters. ... The wedge strategy is a political and social action plan authored by the Discovery Institute, an organization that works to promote a Neo-Creationist religious agenda centering on Intelligent design, and is the hub of the Intelligent design movement. ... An intelligent designer, also referred to as an intelligent agent, is the entity that the intelligent design movement argues had some role in the origin and/or development of life and who supposedly has left scientific evidence of this intelligent design. ... The first ten Amendments to the U.S. Constitution make up the Bill of Rights. ... Tammy Kitzmiller, et al. ...

Today, creation science as an organized movement is primarily centered within the United States, although creation science organizations are known in other countries, most notably Answers in Genesis which was founded in Australia. Proponents are found primarily among various denominations of Christianity described as evangelical, conservative, or fundamentalist. While creationist movements also exist in Islam, and Judaism, these movements do not use the phrase creation science to describe their beliefs. AiGs logo Answers in Genesis (AiG) is a non-profit Christian apologetics ministry with a particular focus on Young Earth creationism and a literal, or plain,[1] interpretation of the first chapters of Genesis. ... Christianity percentage by country, purple is highest, orange is lowest Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Wycliffe Tyndale · Luther · Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box:      The word evangelicalism often refers to... Fundamentalist Christianity, or Christian fundamentalism, is a movement that arose mainly within British and American Protestantism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by conservative evangelical Christians, who, in a reaction to modernism, actively affirmed a fundamental set of Christian beliefs: the inerrancy of the Bible, Sola Scriptura, the... For people named Islam, see Islam (name). ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Issues

Creation science has its roots in the ongoing effort by young-earth creationists to dispute modern science's description of natural history (particularly biological evolution, but also geology and physical cosmology) while attempting to offer an alternative explanation of observable phenomena compatible with the Biblical account. Adam and Eve, the first human beings according to Genesis. ... Part of a scientific laboratory at the University of Cologne. ... Table of natural history, 1728 Cyclopaedia Natural history is an umbrella term for what are now often viewed as several distinct scientific disciplines of integrative organismal biology. ... This article includes a list of works cited but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. ... Physical cosmology, as a branch of astrophysics, is the study of the large-scale structure of the universe and is concerned with fundamental questions about its formation and evolution. ...

The proponents of creation science often argue that many observable phenomena fit more easily into the Biblical account than with the naturalistic worldview.^[28] The overwhelming majority of scientists take a secular approach and argue that this premise runs counter to the core principles of coherent scientific methodology, thus literal interpretations of the Bible which demand a global flood, a young Earth, or special creation of created kinds can be shown to be unsupported by scientific evidence.^[29] Scientific method is a body of techniques for investigating phenomena and acquiring new knowledge, as well as for correcting and integrating previous knowledge. ... In creation biology, created kinds are believed to be the original forms of life as they were created by God. ... The scientific method or process is fundamental to the scientific investigation and acquisition of new knowledge based upon physical evidence. ...

Creation science proponents openly state that their oppositional stance is based on religion. Duane Gish, a prominent creation science proponent, has argued that "We cannot discover by scientific investigation anything about the creative processes used by the Creator."^[30] Although intelligent design does not officially identify the designer, its leading proponents justify this with similar arguments, stating that "the nature, moral character and purposes of this intelligence lie beyond the competence of science and must be left to religion and philosophy",^[31] and their writings show the designer to be the God of Christianity.^[32] In 1984 Dean H. Kenyon, joint author of the textbook later retitled Of Pandas and People, also distanced his views from religious doctrines when he stated in an affidavit that "Creation-science does not include as essential parts the concepts of catastrophism, a world-wide flood, a recent inception of the earth or life, from nothingness (ex nihilo), the concept of kinds, or any concepts from Genesis or other religious texts."^[33] Duane Gish Duane Tolbert Gish (born February 17, 1921) is an American young earth creationist, and former vice-president of the Institute for Creation Research. ... For other uses, see Intelligent design (disambiguation). ... Dean H. Kenyon is Professor Emeritus of Biology at San Francisco State University and author of a controversial textbook on intelligent design. ... Of Pandas and People: The Central Question of Biological Origins is a controversial 1989 (2nd edition 1993) school-level textbook written by Percival Davis and Dean H. Kenyon and published by the Texas-based Foundation for Thought and Ethics (FTE). ... An affidavit is a formal sworn statement of fact, signed by the declarant (who is called the affiant), and witnessed (as to the veracity of the affiants signature) by a taker of oaths, such as a notary public. ...

Metaphysical assumptions

Creation science makes the a priori metaphysical assumption that the Creator exists. Christian creation science holds that the description of creation is given in the Bible and that empirical scientific evidence corresponds with that description. Creationists in general see a doctrinaire commitment to exclude the supreme being and miracles as a motivating factor in Darwinism, a term used in a derogatory fashion to refer to evolutionary biology. Critics consider creation science to be religious, rather than scientific, because it stems from faith in the Bible, rather than by the application of the scientific method.^[34] The United States National Academy of Sciences (NAS), has noted, "Religious opposition to evolution propels antievolutionism. Although antievolutionists pay lip service to supposed scientific problems with evolution, what motivates them to battle its teaching is apprehension over the implications of evolution for religion."^[35] Charles Darwin Darwinism is a term for the underlying theory in those ideas of Charles Darwin concerning evolution and natural selection. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Faith has two general implications which can be implied either exclusively or mutually; To Trust: Believing a certain variable will act a specific way despite the potential influence of known or unknown change. ... President Harding and the National Academy of Sciences at the White House, Washington, DC, April 1921 The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine. ...

Creation science advocates argue that mainstream scientific theories of the origins of the universe, the earth, and life are rooted in a priori presumptions of methodological naturalism and uniformitarianism, each of which is disputed. In some areas of science, for example chemistry, meteorology or medicine, the default assumptions of a naturalistic universe and uniformitarianism are not considered problematic to creation science proponents. As a matter of principle, creation science advocates single out only those scientific theories that they have determined are most in conflict with their beliefs, and it is against those theories that they concentrate their efforts. In mathematics, theory is used informally to refer to a body of knowledge about mathematics. ... Methodology is defined as the analysis of the // == Headline text == principles of methods, rules, and postulates employed by a discipline or the development of methods, to be applied within a discipline a particular procedure or set of procedures. [1]. It should be noted that methodology is frequently used when method... Naturalism is any of several philosophical stances, typically those descended from materialism and pragmatism, that do not distinguish the supernatural (including strange entities like non-natural values, and universals as they are commonly conceived) from nature. ... Uniformitarianism, in the philosophy of science, is the assumption that the natural processes operating in the past are the same as those that can be observed operating in the present. ... Chemistry - the study of interactions of chemical substances with one another and energy based on the structure of atoms, molecules and other kinds of aggregrates Chemistry (from Egyptian kēme (chem), meaning earth[1]) is the science concerned with the composition, structure, and properties of matter, as well as the... // Meteorology (from Greek: μετέωρον, meteoron, high in the sky; and λόγος, logos, knowledge) is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere that focuses on weather processes and forecasting. ... Medicine is the science and art of maintaining andor restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of patients. ...

Religious criticism

Fideists criticize creation science on the grounds either that religious faith alone should be a sufficient basis for belief in the truth of creation, or that efforts to prove the Genesis account of creation on scientific grounds are inherently futile as reason is subordinate to faith and cannot thus be used to prove it. In Christian theology, fideism is any of several belief systems which hold, on various grounds, that reason is irrelevant to religious faith. ...

Many Christian theologies, including Liberal Christianity, consider the Genesis narrative to be a poetic and allegorical work rather than a literal history, and many Christian churches – including the Roman Catholic,^[36] Anglican and the more liberal denominations of the Lutheran, Methodist, Congregationalist and Presbyterian faiths – have either rejected creation science outright or are ambivalent to it. Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box:      Christian theology is reasoned discourse concerning... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Wycliffe Tyndale · Luther · Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box:      Liberal Christianity, sometimes called... This article is about the biblical text. ... The Chinese poem Quatrain on Heavenly Mountain by Emperor Gaozong (Song Dynasty) Poetry (from the Greek , poiesis, a making or creating) is a form of art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its ostensible meaning. ... Allegory of Music by Filippino Lippi. ... The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ... The term Anglican describes those people and churches following the religious traditions of the Church of England, especially following the Reformation. ... The Lutheran movement is a group of denominations of Protestant Christianity by the original definition. ... The Methodist movement is a group of denominations of Protestant Christianity. ... Congregational churches are Protestant Christian churches practicing congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its own affairs. ... Presbyterianism is part of the Reformed churches family of denominations of Christian Protestantism based on the teachings of John Calvin which traces its institutional roots to the Scottish Reformation, especially as led by John Knox. ...

These churches rejecting creation science hold theological positions which have been described as Theistic evolution.^[37] Theistic evolution, less commonly known as evolutionary creationism, is the general opinion that some or all classical religious teachings about God and creation are compatible with some or all of the modern scientific understanding about biological evolution. ...

Scientific criticism

The United States National Academy of Sciences states that "creation science is in fact not science and should not be presented as such."^[38] and that "the claims of creation science lack empirical support and cannot be meaningfully tested."^[38] According to Skeptic Magazine, the "creation 'science' movement gains much of its strength through the use of distortion and scientifically unethical tactics" and "seriously misrepresents the theory of evolution."^[39] President Harding and the National Academy of Sciences at the White House, Washington, DC, April 1921 The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine. ... Phrenology is regarded today as a classic example of pseudoscience. ... The Skeptics Society is a nonprofit organization devoted to promoting scientific skepticism and resisting the spread of pseudoscience, superstition, and irrational beliefs. ...

For a theory to qualify as scientific it must be: The word theory has a number of distinct meanings in different fields of knowledge, depending on their methodologies and the context of discussion. ... Scientific method is a body of techniques for investigating phenomena and acquiring new knowledge, as well as for correcting and integrating previous knowledge. ...

• consistent (internally and externally)
• parsimonious (sparing in proposed entities or explanations)
• useful (describing and explaining observed phenomena)
• empirically testable and falsifiable
• based upon controlled, repeatable experiments
• correctable and dynamic (changing to fit with newly discovered data)
• progressive (achieving all that previous theories have and more)
• tentative (admitting that it might not be correct rather than asserting certainty)

For any hypothesis or conjecture to be considered scientific, it must meet at least most, but ideally all, of the above criteria. The fewer which are matched, the less scientific it is. If it meets two or fewer of these criteria, it cannot be treated as scientific in any useful sense of the word. Look up parsimony in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Falsifiability (or disprovability) is the logical possibility that an assertion can be shown false by an observation or a physical experiment. ... Look up Hypothesis in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... In mathematics, a conjecture is a mathematical statement which appears likely to be true, but has not been formally proven to be true under the rules of mathematical logic. ...

Scientists have considered the hypotheses proposed by creation science and have rejected them because of a lack of evidence. Furthermore, the claims of creation science do not refer to natural causes and cannot be subject to meaningful tests, so they do not qualify as scientific hypotheses. In 1987 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that creationism is religion, not science, and cannot be advocated in public school classrooms.^[40] Most major religious groups have concluded that the concept of evolution is not at odds with their descriptions of creation and human origins.^[41]

A summary of the objections to creation science by mainstream scientists follows:

• Creation science is not falsifiable : Theism is not falsifiable, since the existence of God is typically asserted without sufficient conditions to allow a falsifying observation. If God is a transcendental being, beyond the realm of the observable, no claim about his existence can be supported or undermined by observation. Thus, creationism, the argument from design and other arguments for the existence of God are a posteriori arguments. (See also the section on falsifiability below.)
• Creation science violates the principle of parsimony : Creationism fails to pass Occam's razor. Many explanations offered by creation science are more complex than alternative explanations. Parsimony favours explanations that make the fewest assumptions and postulate the fewest hypothetical entities.
• Creation science is not empirically testable : Creationism posits the supernatural which by definition is beyond empirical natural testing, and thus conflicts with the practical use of methodological naturalism inherent in science.
• Creation science is not based upon controlled, repeatable experiments : That creationism is not based upon controlled, repeatable experiments stems not from the theory itself, but from the phenomena that it tries to explain.
• Creation science is not correctable, dynamic, tentative or progressive : Creationism professes to adhere to an "absolute Truth", "the word of God", instead of a provisional assessment of data which can change when new information is discovered. The idea of the progressive growth of scientific ideas is required to explain previous data and any previously unexplainable data as well as any future data. It is often given as a justification for the naturalistic basis of science. In any practical sense of the concept, creation science is not progressive: it does not explain or expand upon what went before it and is not consistent with established ancillary theories.

Creation science's lack of adherence to the standards of the scientific method mean that it (and specifically creation science) cannot be said to be scientific in the way that the term "science" is currently defined by the leading world science organisations. Creation science has been described as an oxymoron by Stephen Jay Gould.^[42] For more discussion, see creation-evolution controversy. Theism is the belief in the existence of one or more divinities or deities. ... A Posteriori is the title of the musical project Enigmas sixth studio album, released in September 2006. ... William of Ockham Occams razor (sometimes spelled Ockhams razor) is a principle attributed to the 14th-century English logician and Franciscan friar William of Ockham. ... Look up parsimony in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Look up Supernatural in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Naturalism is any of several philosophical stances, typically those descended from materialism and pragmatism, that do not distinguish the supernatural (including strange entities like non-natural values, and universals as they are commonly conceived) from nature. ... Scientific method is a body of techniques for investigating phenomena and acquiring new knowledge, as well as for correcting and integrating previous knowledge. ... -1... The creation-evolution controversy (also termed the creation vs. ...

Historical, philosophical, and sociological criticism

Historically, the debate of whether creationism is compatible with science can be traced back to 1874, the year science historian John William Draper published his History of the Conflict between Religion and Science. In it Draper portrayed the entire history of scientific development as a war against religion. This presentation of history was propagated further by followers such as Andrew Dickson White in his essay A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom. Their conclusions, however, have been disputed.^[43] Year 1874 (MDCCCLXXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link with display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... John William Draper (5 May 1811, St Helens, Merseyside – 4 January 1882, Hastings, New York) was a U.S. (English-born) chemist, botanist, historian and photographer. ... Andrew Dickson White in 1885 Andrew Dickson White (November 7, 1832 – November 4, 1918) was an American diplomat, author, and educator, most known as the co-founder of Cornell University. ...

Some opponents consider creation science to be an ideologically and politically motivated propaganda tool, with cult-like features, to promote the creationist agenda in society. They allege that the term "creation science" was chosen to purposely blur the distinction between science and religion, particularly in countries that are religiously-neutral by law (such as the United States), in an attempt to gain official government sanction and recognition of specific religious tenets above those of other faiths. In the United States, the principal focus of Creation Science advocates is on the government-supported public school systems, which are prohibited by the Establishment Clause from promoting specific religions. Political Ideologies Part of the Politics series Politics Portal This box:      An ideology is an organized collection of ideas. ... The Politics series Politics Portal This box:      Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions. ... Soviet Propaganda Poster during the World War II. The text reads Red Army Fighter, SAVE US! Chinese propaganda poster from during the Cultural Revolution. ... This article does not discuss cult in its original sense of religious practice; for that usage see Cult (religious practice). ... Religious and scientific modes of knowledge Generally speaking, religion and science use different methods in their effort to ascertain Truth. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The first ten Amendments to the U.S. Constitution make up the Bill of Rights. ...

Areas of study

Subjects within creation science can be split into three main categories, each covering a different area of origins research: creation biology, flood geology, and creationist cosmologies. These subjects correspond to the mainstream scientific disciplines of evolutionary biology, earth sciences and cosmology respectively. Other topics include radiohaloes and planetology. Creation biology,examines biology from a creationist perspective which assumes that God created all life on the planet as described in the Genesis account of Creation, in a finite number of discrete created kinds or baramins. ... Flood geology (also creation geology or diluvial geology) is a prominent subset of beliefs under the umbrella of creationism that assumes the literal truth of a global flood as described in the Genesis account of Noahs Ark. ... Creationist cosmologies are pseudoscientific arguments by various creationists that a significant portion of the observable universe is a few thousands of years old, and as such, run contrary to the Big Bang Theory, which states that all of the universe is billions of years old. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Earth science (also known as geoscience or the geosciences), is an all-embracing term for the sciences related to the planet Earth. ... Cosmology, from the Greek: κοσμολογία (cosmologia, κόσμος (cosmos) order + λογια (logia) discourse) is the study of the Universe in its totality, and by extension, humanitys place in it. ... Radiohalos are microscopic, spherical shells of discoloration in rocks, such as granite, or wood caused by the inclusion of radioactive grains in the rock or by deposition of radioactive material in them. ... Planetary science, also known as planetology or planetary astronomy, is the science of planets and the solar system, and incorporates an interdisciplinary approach drawing from diverse sciences. ...

Creation biology

Main article: Creation biology

Creation biology centers around an idea derived from Genesis that states that life was created by God in a finite number of "created kinds" rat