Thoughts of a Doubting Christian ✓

Evolution vs Creationism

Even when I was a child, I knew that the biblical accounts of Creation and Adam and Eve were not historically or scientifically accurate. Both of my parents are scientists (my mom has a bachelor's degree in Biology, and my dad is an amateur astronomer), so it wasn't weird to me to be a Christian scientist. It was hard to picture someone rejecting mountains of scientific evidence in favor of their religious beliefs.

So, imagine my surprise when I reached high school and one of my Christian friends told me that she didn't believe in evolution! I was even more astounded when I visited her church on a day where they discussed different religious views of Creation, and not one of them involved evolution. Still, I figured they were in the minority — until I joined Wattpad.

Never before did I understand just how many Christians continue to reject evolution for a literalistic interpretation of the Bible. It's an astoundingly large number. In a Pew Research poll, nearly half of all Americans agreed that humanity was created more or less in its current form within the last 6,000 to 10,000 years. Not only that, but nearly two-thirds of people admitted that if science showed one or more of their religious beliefs to be wrong, they would reject it in favor of their beliefs!

With that in mind, it's no wonder that so many Americans continue to reject evolution — their religious beliefs will always trump what scientists say, even if all of the scientific evidence is in opposition. That includes sticking to creationism instead of evolution.

What is creationism? To clarify what I'm talking about when I say creationism, here are its most common manifestations:

Young-Earth Creationism:

This one seems to be the most popular one among Christians on Wattpad. This creationism describes Christians who believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible and therefore believe the Earth to be only 6,000 to 10,000 years old (instead of 4.5 billion).

"Scientific" Creationism:

Also known as Creation "Science," this creationism happens when Christians attempt to use "scientific evidence" to "prove" the biblical account of Creation and the Flood, while also trying to disprove evolution. It's basically young-Earth creationism dressed up to seem scientific, but it is seen as a joke within the scientific community.

Old-Earth Creationism:

This creationism takes the Bible less literally, hinging on the argument that "six days" in the Bible is a mistranslation of the original Hebrew. However, most Old-Earth creationists still reject evolution.

Theistic Evolution, Evolutionary Creationism, and Intelligent Design:

These creationist ideas are the most compatible with science. Theistic evolutionists believe in evolution, but they believe that God set it off and let it run without interference. Intelligent Design is the idea that we can see evidence for God and/or a Creator through the design, set-up, and orderly laws of the universe. (Theistic evolution and Intelligent Design are closest to what I believe, but as a scientist, I don't bring my belief in God into the lab. Science is about coming up with observable evidence, not saying "it was God" and calling it a day.)

So, when I discuss creationism, I'm only talking about creationism that rejects the theory of evolution, because that goes against a mass of scientific evidence.

What is evolution?

Evolution has three basic parts: one, that DNA can mutate or change; two, that the changes can be good, bad, or neutral; and three, that a build-up of mutations over time causes new species to form. Yes, it really is that simple!