Creationism, Evolutionism, and Everything In Between

The Spectrum of Belief

Modern media really likes to simplify things, especially in this day and age where you only have a headline to grab someone's attention. According to the media, there are two sides to this conflict: the religious right who believes the world is 4004 years old and evolution is a grand conspiracy, and the atheistic left who believe that the world is 4.87 billion years old and God is a grand conspiracy. Apparently these two sides converse by shouting and hurling insults and documentaries at each other.

However, these two sides are simply the end points on a spectra of beliefs from the 'purest' of creationism (flat-earth creationism, which takes biblical passages about the firmanents of earth and heaven literally), to the 'purest' of evolutionism (everything is chaos and chance, no God exists). In fact, there are five main positions in the spectrum.

I won't go into Flat earth creationism as it (fortunately) has only a handful of followers centered in Saskatchewan, the flattest province in all of Canada.

Young Earth Creationism
"The Bible is the source of God's truth, why would you turn to fallible human methods?"
Young-earth creationism has its roots in a literal interpretation of the Old Testament, especially regarding the time-frame. Chronologies were established using the Old Testament as well as known historical dates (Julius Caesar, for example), to determine dates for the creation of the earth which range from 3000BC to 12,000BC, depending on interpretation. Young Earth Creationists believe that God created the world in seven days, exactly as it's detailed in Genesis, therefore evolution is rejected. Protestant Reformed churches and Seventh-Day Adventists are among Young-Earth Creationist denominations.

Old-earth Creationism (Gap Creationism, Progressive Creationism, Day-Age Creationism)
"The world is old. Life, on the other hand..."
Old-earth creationists hold that the world is old, but that creation was a special event due to God's miraculous intercession, not from the slow process of evolution. Three views that fit into this category are Gap Creationism Progressive Creationism, and Day-Age Creationism. Gap Creationism states that the world existed for a long time prior to life, and then God created life in a discrete event (frequently believed to be 7 actual 24 hour days as stated in Genesis). Progressive Creationism states that God intervened in discrete events from time to time, perhaps after natural disasters, to create life. Some evolutionary adaptation and natural selection is accepted, but transitions from species to species is rejected. Also within this sphere is Day-Age Creationism: since the Hebrew word for day (yom) does not specifically mean a 24 hour day, the order of creation is in fact a simplification of modern science for a pre-science peoples: that the world was created in six discrete periods of time. Some proponents of day-age creationism also believe in evolution as well. Jehovah's witnesses, Answers in Creation affiliates are prominent old-earth creationists.

Creationary Evolutionism (Evolutionary Creationism, Theistic Evolution)
"God speaks through whispers in nature, through natural processes."
Creationary Evolutionists believe that God works through natural processes, such as evolution, to create life. The earth is old, and evolution exists in a process guided by God, without discrete direct interference. The story of Genesis is a metaphor with deep meaning rather than a literal description of events, and miracles are not used to explain scientific phenomena. This is the position held by the Catholic Church, Anglican Church, Episcopalians, and many more.

Deism
"God exists. But that's about all He does."
Theistic evolutionists are rarely heard from mainly because they don't organize or promote their position. These are the people who hold in the "clockmaker God" idea: God exists, but he created the world and its natural laws and has very little to do with it ever since. God exists, but has very little bearing on our daily lives, and does not have a personal relationship with us. This view is held by the World Union of Deists. However, many nominally religious or nonreligious people might describe themselves as Deists.

Atheistic Evolutionism
"There is no God."
This is the position popularised by writers such as Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens. There is no God, Man is to set his own destiny with no guidance from above; miracles are never a valid explanation. The world is old and evolution is the process by which life exists and continues existing. All is chaos and chance. Many agnostics as well may hold this position (Agnosticism means that they are unsure whether or not there is a God).


After looking at all this: what position do you hold? In one of my next posts, I'm going to post a quiz which you can take which will tell you more about where you fit on this spectrum of belief.

Another large question looms here too: What about Intelligent Design? Where does that fit in this spectrum? I will address that in a coming article as well.

If it's true, it stands

In my welcome post I talked a little about my own journey with evolution. I'm going to talk a little about one of the steps in the journey. What's a blog without a bit of navel-gazing?

University
When I came to university, I knew that I wanted to study geology. Being fascinated with dinosaurs since I was a kid, a paleontologist advised me to go into geology first and then take a masters in paleo (I got stuck in geology on the way though...awesome science!).

I had been working out in my head ideas of creation and evolution, without too much research. I drifted into different perspectives. Everything I had seen so far convinced me that the world was old at least, but whether or not evolution existed was still a question. A small voice did give me this logical test:

A: With God, all things are possible.
B: Evolution is a 'thing'.

Therefore, with A and B being true, evolution is possible.

If It's True...
I decided to face the questions head on...I had a mantra: If it's true, it stands. Silly sounding yes, but it was my guiding mantra for every question. I had to look at it with an open mind, and decide for myself whether or not it was true. And then, at the end of my first year, going through evolution and the age of the earth, I found that both my science and my faith had withstood my test of truth. But I couldn't really explain it to anyone.

Sharing What I've Learnt
Some time around then, a friend of the family suggested that I write about it. Write what? I wondered. That's when I started my rather casual researching of the issue. And now, a blog. I'm hoping that the blog will help me pursue my research further.

Frequently I found a fantastic book or reference, and upon reading it, I would think "Aha! Here's the answer. I can rest easy now." And I'd proceed to do nothing, just smug in the thought that the answer was there, there was such rich wisdom if only someone would go out and look for it.

But now it's time for me to bring some of that wisdom out, to point some of it out, to share what I've been blessed to learn with others.

Sorry it's taken so long.