Young Earth creationism
| Part of a series on | ||||
| Creationism | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| History | ||||
| Types | ||||
| Biblical cosmology | ||||
| Creation science | ||||
| Rejection of evolution by religious groups | ||||
| Religious views | ||||
|
||||
Young Earth creationism (YEC) is a form of creationism. One of its central tenets is that Earth and lifeforms were created by supernatural acts of the Abrahamic God between about 10,000 and 6,000 years ago, directly contradicting established scientific data that puts the age of Earth around 4.54 billion years. Events such as Noah’s Flood are described as explaining much of the geological and fossil record. In its most widespread version, YEC is based on a religious belief in the inerrancy of certain literal interpretations of the Book of Genesis. Its primary adherents are Christians and Jews who believe God created the Earth in six literal days, as stated in Genesis 1. The largest young Earth creationist organisations are Answers in Genesis, Institute for Creation Research, and Creation Ministries International.
This is in contrast with old Earth creationism (OEC), which holds that literal interpretations of Genesis are compatible with the scientifically determined ages of the Earth, the universe, and theistic evolution, which posits that scientific principles of evolution, the Big Bang, abiogenesis, solar nebular theory, age of the universe, and age of Earth are compatible with a metaphorical interpretation of the Genesis creation account.
Since the mid-20th century, young Earth creationists—starting with Henry Morris (1918–2006)—developed and promoted a pseudoscientific explanation called creation science as a basis for religious belief in a supernatural, geologically-recent creation, in response to scientific acceptance of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, which was developed over the previous century. Contemporary YEC movements arose, protesting the scientific consensus established by numerous scientific disciplines, which demonstrate that the age of the universe is around 13.8 billion years, the formation of the Earth and Solar System happened around 4.6 billion years ago, and the origin of life occurred roughly 4 billion years ago.
YEC remains influential in some Christian fundamentalist circles, especially in the United States, where it continues to shape debates on science education, biblical interpretation, and the relationship between faith and science. A 2017 Gallup creationism survey found 38 percent of adults in the US held a view that "God created humans in their present form at some time within the last 10,000 years or so" when asked for their views on the origin and development of human beings; Gallup noted this was the lowest in 35 years. It was suggested the support level may be lower when poll results are adjusted after comparison with other polls that have questions which more specifically account for uncertainty and ambivalence. In 2019 Gallup found, when asking a similar question, that 40 percent of US adults held a creationist view.