Religion/science conflicts & "hot" topics

Menu

Beliefs about the origins & development of the
species, the Earth, & the universe: including
Evolution, Young Earth Creationism, Old Earth
Creationism, Theistic Creationism, and
Intelligent Design (only one of which can be true)

Sponsored link.

Two quotations that illustrate the great gulf in beliefs concerning origins:

• 2012-SEP: Congress member Paul Broun, MD (R-GA):

  "God's word is true. I've come to understand that. All that stuff I was taught about evolution and embryology and the Big Bang theory, all that is lies straight from the pit of Hell, It's lies to try to keep me and all the folks who were taught that from understanding that they need a savior. ... You see, there are a lot of scientific data that I’ve found out as a scientist that actually show that this is really a young Earth. I don’t believe that the Earth’s but about 9,000 years old. I believe it was created in six days as we know them. That’s what the Bible says."

  Rep. Broun is a member of the Science, Space, and Technology Committee, along with Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) who suggested that female victims of "legitimate rape" have biological defense processes in their body that prevent pregnancy."₁
  
  
  
• 2009-MAY: Letter from over 50 scientific societies to the Texas Board of Education. It expressed concern over the quality of science education in that state:

  "Evolution is the foundation of modern biology, and is crucial in fields as diverse as agriculture, computer science, engineering, geology, and medicine. We oppose any efforts to undermine the teaching of biological evolution...whether by misrepresenting those subjects or by inaccurately describing them as controversial and in need of special scrutiny." ₂

This section discusses the origin of life (abiogenesis) and the development of species, including creation science, intelligent design, theistic evolution, and naturalistic evolution.

Specific topics are:

• Introductory essays: (Please read these first)
  
  
  • Scope of this section; promoters; various theories
    
    
  • Terminology; details of various theories; age of the Earth
    
    
• Beliefs about the origin of the species:
  
  
  • 3 main world views, and many unique belief systems
    
    
  • What is the theory of evolution?
    
    
    • Is evolution "merely" a theory?
      
      
    • What would it take to disprove evolution?
      
      
    • The Tree of Life by Charles Darwin and others
      
      
  • What is creation science?
    
    
    • Is creation science really a science?
      
      
  • Opinion polls revealing what the public actually believes
    
    
  • What do 17 different religions & faith groups teach?
    
    
  • Philosophies behind evolution and creation science beliefs
    
    
  • Intelligent Design: finding signs of a supernatural creative entity -- in nature
    
    
• Carbon-14 dating techniques:
  
  
  • How it works; beliefs of scientists, beliefs of new-earth creationists...
    
    
• The conflicts among evolution, ID, and creation science:
  
  
  • History of the conflict
    
    
  • Why scientists do not believe in creation science
    
    
    • Specific reasons for scientists' lack of belief in creation science
      
      
    • Indicators that evolution never happened (with rebuttals)
      
      
  • Possible resolutions to the conflict
    
    
  • Conflicts in public schools:
    
    
    • Conflicts: 1925 to now
      
      
    • Public opinion polls about teaching origins. Conflicts, 1987 to now
      
      
    • Recent news items about conflicts in public schools
      
      
    • 2009: Letter about evolution teaching from over 50 scientific societies to the Texas Board of Education
      
      
  • Conflicts in the National Park Service
    
    
  • E-mail exchanges we have received about origins
    
    
• The Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament):
  
  
  • Genesis 1:2: The creation stories:
    
    
    • Comparisons between:
      
      
      • The Genesis creation story & the theory of evolution
        
        
      • The Genesis & Babylonian creation stories
        
        
      • The two Genesis creation stories
        
        
    • References to creation beyond Genesis. Possible biblical references to evolution
      
      
    • How religious conservatives and liberals interpret the Bible's creation stories
      
      
    • Interpretations of Genesis 1:1: "In the beginning, God...."
      
      
    • The second creation story (Genesis 2:4 to 2:25) on the length of time creation took.
  
  
  • Genesis 6 to 8: Noah's flood:
    
    
    • The story of the flood
      
      
    • A possible source for Noah's flood stories
      
      
    • Conflicts between the  Bible's flood story and the fossil record
      
      
  • Three essays donated by Dr. Zvi Shkedi: On the harmony of a literal interpretation of the Torah and science:
    
    
    • The Great Flood
      
      
    • The Age of the Universe: Theory and Observations; Physics, Functions, and Differential Equations.
      
      
    • Exposing the Myth of Evolution: A historical perspective; Darwin's theories - two for the price of one; new problems with the theory.
      
      
• How old is the earth and the rest of the universe?
  
  
  • Beliefs in a the Earth's age by scientists and creationists
    
    
  • Estimates of the Earth's creation or coalescence
    
    
  • Is there no way to prove the age of the earth?
    
    
    • 19 indicators of a very old earth with rebuttals
      
      
    • 22 indicators of a very young earth with rebuttals
      
      
    • Visualizing the gap between an old and young earth
      
      
  • About fossils, the length of the day and the age of the earth
    
    
  • An excerpt from the book by Monte Benson: "The World Peace Prophecies: The Unification of Science, Religion, and Humanity
    
    
  • A failed attempt to enter into dialog with supporters of creation science: Part 1   Part 2
    
    
  • A list of "proofs" of a Young Earth that web sites might want to avoid:  Part 1  Part 2
    
    
    
• Donated essays:
  
  
  • By David Wilson:
    • The Evolution-Religion controversy: The practical need for an understanding of evolution
      
      
    • The improbability of the Universe as it now exists
      
      
      
• Information and news events:
  
  
  • Web sites promoting evolution, Intelligent Design, and other points of view. Books and a DVD set.
    
    
  • Panel discussion. Creation myths. Creationism links
    
    
  • Scientific findings related to origins, creation, evolution, etc. 2005 to now
    

Note: The term "billion" is used in its North American sense to refer to one thousand million.

Sponsored link:

A book on harmonizing evolution & the Bible:

  "Searching for Truth with a Broken Flashlight: The Reality of Misconception and Wishful Thinking in the Evolution/Creation Controversy" by Michael L. Hawley.

The general wisdom in North America is that one must either:

• Accept the accuracy of the Bible text and thus embrace Creationism, or
  
  
• Accept the Theory of Evolution as truth and consider the book of Genesis as myth.

Hawley explodes these beliefs. Starting from the facts found in nature, one can harmonize evolution and Genesis. This book is a remarkable accomplishment. It is one of the most important recent books directed at a general audience on evolution and creationism.

Read reviews or order this book safely from Amazon.com online book store

You can safely order the following books from Amazon.com:

On evolution:

On Creation Science:

On Intelligent Design:

Reference used:

1. "Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA): Evolution, Big Bang 'Lies Straight From The Pit Of Hell'." TPM, 2012-OCT-05, at: http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/
2. "Scientists to Texas Board of Education: Teach Evolution Right!," National Center for Science Education, 2009-MAY-19, at: http://ncse.com/

Site navigation: Home page > "Hot" religious topics > here

Copyright © 1995 to 2013 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance. Yes, that is not a typo. If this site continues for 2 more months, we will have been online for 18 years.
Originally published: 1995-NOV-03
Most recent update: 2013-FEB-13
Author: B.A. Robinson

Sponsored link

Go to the previous page, or to the "Hot Religious Topics" menu, or to the "Religion & science conflicts" menu, or to the "Truth in religion" menu, or choose:

Web ReligiousTolerance.org

Page Translator: This page translator works on Firefox, Opera, Chrome, and Safari browsers only After translating, click on the "show original" button at the top of this page to restore page to English.