Young-earth creationism (which later became "scientific creationism") can
essentially be traced back to one man, George McCready Price, a fundamentalist
Seventh Day Adventist who accepted the literal truth of the Bible as a matter of
course. In 1923, Price published a book called The New Geology, in
which he argued that all of the geological features we see today were the result
of Noah's Flood, and not the slow geological processes described by scientists.
The "geological column", Price asserted, was nothing more than the deep
sediments deposited by the Flood, while all of the various fossils were merely
the dead bodies of organisms that had drowned in the Deluge. Conventional
geology, Price asserted, was a fraud, fostered upon an unsuspecting public by
scientists who were doing the work of the Devil: "Some of the tricky methods
used by the Great Deceiver to befuddle the people of the last days". (cited in
Numbers, 1992, p. 137) Price's ideas became known as "Flood geology".
In 1935, Price helped to form the Religion and Science Association, the first
nationwide "creationist" organization. The RSA had as its acknowledged purpose
that of using scientific data to support the Bible. Shortly after it was formed,
however, the RSA was torn by an internal feud between those who accepted Price's
Flood geology and those who rejected it. One of RSA's founding members, the
Lutheran theologian Theodore Graebner (an old-earth creationist who taught
biology in several fundamentalist universities) flatly declared that Flood
geology had no supporting evidence: "In spite of all that I have read about the
Flood theory to account for stratification, erosion and fossils, I cannot view
the mountains without losing all faith in that solution of the problem." (cited
in Numbers, 1992, p. 112) By 1937, the Religion and Science Association had
collapsed under the weight of this feuding.
Shortly after the death of the RSA, the Price supporters formed their own
organization, the Deluge Geology Society, with the specific purpose of
supporting the theories of Flood geology. Price was a co-founder and the most
illumined member. Another co-founder was fellow Seventh Day Adventist Harold W.
Clarke, who had also been a founding member of the RSA while teaching biology at
an Adventist college in California. Another person who joined the DGS was a grad
student from the University of Minnesota named Henry Morris, whose name will
crop up very often in later creationist history.
To prevent the kind of internecine fighting that destroyed the RSA, the
Deluge Geology Society only admitted committed Flood geologists as members.
Despite this precaution, however, internal feuding broke out anyway, over the
question of the age of the solar system. The old-earthers argued that the
scientific evidence which indicated a very old solar system did not conflict
with Genesis, a position which the young-earthers found heretical. The
organization collapsed in 1948.
During this time, a new creationist organization appeared, one which became
much more influential than the oft-ignored DGS. This was the American Scientific
Affiliation, which was formed in 1941 to explain how science supported the
Bible. Unlike the RSA and DGS, which were more concerned with theology than
science, the ASA required all of its members to have legitimate scientific
credentials. It also required all members to sign an oath of membership,
swearing:
"I believe the whole Bible, as originally given, to be the inspired Word of
God, the only unerring guide of faith and conduct. Since God is the Author of
this Book, as well as the Creator and Sustainer of the physical world about
us, I cannot conceive of discrepancies between statements in the Bible and the
real facts of science." (cited in Numbers, 1992, p. 159)
This tactic of limiting membership to scientists who already agreed to the
literal truth of Genesis would later be repeated. In effect, by using scientific
knowledge as an apologetic for Biblical truth, the ASA became the first
"creation science" organization.
Although the ASA had no connections to the Deluge Geology Society when it was
formed, it was quickly approached by the DGS, which wanted to publish a joint
anti-evolution periodical. The ASA leadership, distrustful of the "strong
Seventh-Day Adventist flavor" of the Deluge Society (cited in Numbers, 1992, p.
161), turned them down.
In the end, however, it was the ASA's insistence on a semblance of scientific
respectability which proved to be its undoing. Once again, Flood geology was at
the center of the dispute. Dr. J. Laurence Kulp, a chemist and geologist, flatly
rejected Flood geology and pointed out that it was demonstrably untrue, and to
insist upon it as Biblically-inspired would make a laughingstock out of
creationism. "This unscientific theory of Flood geology," Kulp wrote, "has done
and will do considerable harm to the strong propagation of the Gospel among
educated people." (cited in Numbers, 1992, p. 167) Kulp was soon joined by
biologist J. Frank Cassell, who presented a paper to the ASA in 1951 bluntly
stating, "Evolution has been defined as 'the gradual or sudden change in animals
and plants through successive generations' . . . Such changes are demonstrable.
Therefore, evolution is a fact." (cited in Numbers, 1992, p. 174-175) Cassell
argued that ASA's entire attitude on evolution had to change if it was to
maintain any scientific respectability, and urged ASA to adopt an attitude of
theistic evolution. (This effort was partially successful. Today, the ASA takes
no official position on the question of creation "science", and most of its
members are theistic evolutionists--although the group did publish a booklet
entitled Teaching Science in a Climate of Controversy, which defended
old- earth creationism.)
The young earthers defended their "science" against the attacks of Kulp and
Cassell. During the 1953 ASA annual convention, Henry Morris presented a paper
entitled "The Biblical Evidence for a Recent Creation and Universal Deluge".
Morris, a staunch Biblical literalist and young-earth creationist, had
deliberately chosen to major in hydraulic engineering and minor in geology, so
he could study the effects that flood waters would have on the earth. In 1946,
the year he entered grad school at the University of Minnesota, he published a
pamphlet called "That You Might Believe", which defended Flood geology. Morris
joined the Deluge Geology Society while still a grad student.
At the 1953 ASA convention, Morris first met John C. Whitcomb, Jr., a
theologian with an interest in Flood geology and young-earth creationism. In
1957, Whitcomb finished a ThD dissertation entitled "The Genesis Flood", which
presented a detailed defense of the historicity and geological affects of Noah's
Flood. Shortly afterwards, he decided to publish the thesis as a book, but
thought it would have more impact if a geologist wrote the sections dealing with
Flood geology. Whitcomb approached several creationist geologists for help in
the book, but was turned down by all of them, who rejected Flood geology for
various reasons. Finally, he approached hydraulic engineer Henry Morris, who,
after some initial hesitation, agreed to co-author the book. The Genesis
Flood was financed by a number of religious fundamentalists (including
Rouas J. Rushdooney, who would go on to begin the Christian "Reconstructionist"
movement). The book was published in February 1961.
For geologists, The Genesis Flood was a yawn, merely an updated
re-hash of McCready Price's New Geology. The book also received
criticism from the old-earth creationists, who argued that the very idea of a
global Flood was not supported by any of the geological evidence. In response,
Whitcomb and Morris answered simply that Genesis said there had been a global
Flood, therefore there must have been one: "The real issue is not the
correctness of the interpretation of various details of the geological data, but
simply what God has revealed in His Word concerning these matters." (Whitcomb
and Morris, 1961, p. xxvii) To the ASA Journal, which was vocal in its criticism
of the book, Morris wrote, "The real crux of the matter is 'What saith
Scripture?' " (cited in Numbers, 1992, p. 208)
The Southern Baptist Church where Morris taught apparently disagreed, and
Morris left over theological differences concerning the Flood. Shortly
afterwards, Morris formed his own College Baptist Church, and one of his guest
pastors was Jerry Falwell, a then-obscure minister in nearby Lynchburg,
Virginia. Since then, Falwell and Morris have remained silent partners--
Falwell's Moral Majority Inc. has given financial support to Morris's
creationist institutions, and Falwell has plugged Morris's creationist books to
his large television audience.
The dispute within the American Scientific Affiliation over Flood geology
soon convinced the young-earthers that the ASA was getting "soft on evolution".
In late 1961, the plant breeder Walter Lammerts, who had long been affiliated
with creationist organizations, joined with Henry Morris and Duane Gish to form
an "anti-evolution caucus" within the ASA. Lammerts was an extremist even for a
creationist--unlike most young-earthers, who accepted a limited form of
evolution within "created kinds", Lammerts rejected even this and asserted that
no speciation of any sort was possible. Gish, a Regular Baptist and a
fundamentalist, had joined the ASA in the late 1950's, after getting his PhD in
bio- chemistry from Berkeley. He worked as a protein researcher for the Upjohn
Company. Together, the three formed a breakaway creationist organization called
the Creation Research Committee in 1963. The Committee later changed its name to
the Creation Research Society, the name it still bears today.
The CRS was the first national group to be headed by Henry Morris, the
"Father of Modern Creationism", and it quickly came to reflect the views of its
leader. The purpose of the CRS, it declares, is "to publish research evidence
supporting the thesis that the material universe, including plants, animals and
man are the result of direct creative acts by a personal God." (Creation
Research Society, Articles of Incorporation, Lansing, Michigan, cited in Nelkin,
1982, p. 78) Morris had by this time decided that scientific data could be used
as an effective tool for bringing people to Christ, and he began to point to his
Flood geology model as an "alternative science", one that proved the literal
correctness of the Bible. He also began to explore the possibility of using the
state legislatures to have "Balanced Treatment" acts passed, mandating equal
treatment of "evolution science" and "creation science" in biology classrooms.
To help legitimize this viewpoint, CRS maintained the old ASA tactic of
admitting only credentialed scientists as members. And, in an effort to avoid
the faction- fighting and ideological bickering that had marked the earlier
creationist organizations, CRS also adopted a long, detailed oath which all
members had to swear, which bound them firmly to a literal interpretation of
Genesis, a young-earth outlook, and acceptance of the Flood geology model:
"(1) The Bible is the Written Word of God, and because it is inspired
thruout [sic], all its assertions are historically and scientifically true in
all the original autographs. To the student of nature, this means that the
account of origins in Genesis is a factual presentation of simple historical
truths.
(2) All basic types of living things, including man, were made by direct
creative acts of God during the Creation Week described in Genesis. Whatever
biological changes have occurred since Creation Week have accomplished only
changes within the original created kinds.
(3) The great Flood described in Genesis, commonly referred to as the
Noachian Flood, was an historic event worldwide in its extent and effect.
(4) We are an organization of Christian men of science who accept Jesus
Christ as our Lord and Savior. The account of the special creation of Adam and
Eve as one man and woman and their subsequent fall into sin is the basis for
our belief in the necessity of a Savior for all mankind. Therefore, salvation
can come only through accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior." (By- Laws of the
Creation Research Society, cited in Numbers, 1992, p. 230-231)
It may seem strange for an institution which tried to present itself as
"scientific" to require all of its members to swear an oath affirming their
belief in certain specific conclusions, regardless of the scientific evidence,
but clearly the purpose of the Creation Research Society had less to do with
scientific investigation than it had in proselytizing people to fundamentalist
Biblical literalism. In fact, a large number of creationists objected to the use
of science at all, arguing that the religious message was weakened and cheapened
by attempting to use scientific data to "prove" the act of creation. One of the
most vociferous objectors was Morris's co-author John C. Whitcomb, who
complained that "One might just as well be a Jewish or even a Muslim creation
scientist as far as this model is concerned." (Whitcomb, Grace Theological
Journal, 1983, cited in Numbers, 1992, p. 246)
"By avoiding any mention of the Bible, or Christ as the Creator, we may be
able to gain an equal time in some schools. But the cost would seem to be
exceedingly high, for absolute certainty is lost and the spiritual impact that
only the living and powerful Word of God can give is blunted." (Whitcomb,
Grace Theological Journal, 1983, cited in Numbers, 1992, p. 246)
Lammerts, meanwhile, continued to attack Morris's new "creation science" on
purely evidentiary grounds. One of Morris's favorite new arguments was that
evolution was made physically impossible by one of the most basic laws of
physics, the Second Law of Thermodynamics, which, Morris contended, stated that
a system could never move from a state of disorganization to a state of higher
organization. Since, Morris asserted, evolutionists postulated that change did
indeed move from a low state of organization (simple one-celled organisms) to a
higher state of organization (vertebrate terrestrial animals), the very basis of
evolutionary theory violated the Second Law. Lammerts rejected this argument
(and Morris's argument is indeed based on a complete mis-statement of the Second
Law), arguing that it was "confounded thermodynamics junk". (Numbers, 1992, p.
235) British creationist A.E. Wilder-Smith also declared that Morris apparently
doesn't "know a thing about thermodynamics" (cited in Numbers, 1992, p. 408)
In 1978, Walter Lang, the editor of the creationist Bible Science Newsletter,
echoed the sentiments of many creationists who felt that scientific
justification for creation was unnecessary and detracted from the spiritual
message: "Only about five percent of evolutionists-turned-creationists did so on
the basis of the overwhelming evidence for creation in the world of nature."
(Lang, Bible Science Newsletter, June 1978, cited in Numbers, 1992, p. 233)
Indeed, Lammerts, Gish and Morris had all been committed creationists before
they had gained any scientific experience.
Morris, however, was completely committed to his strategy of using "creation
science" to win a place for Genesis in American science classrooms, and took
steps to present creationism as a scientific, not a religious, outlook. "Thus,"
Morris explained, "creationism is on the way back, this time not primarily as a
religious belief, but as an alternative scientific explanation of the world in
which we live." (Morris, Troubled Waters of Evolution, 1974, p. 16) Morris's
book Scientific Creationism was intended to be the definitive book on
the science of creationism, suitable for use in public school biology courses.
In 1970, Morris and Christian fundamentalist preacher Tim LaHaye (of the
Moral Majority Inc), working with the Scott Memorial Baptist Church, raised
money and set up the Christian Heritage College in San Diego, an unaccredited
Bible college. In its 1981 academic catalogue, the College offers several
courses in science, all taught, it says, in a "consistently creationist and
Biblical framework". As for evolutionary theory, the catalogue states, "Biblical
criteria require its rejection as possible truth." (1981-1982 General Catalogue,
Christian Heritage College, p. 10, cited in LaFollette, 1983, p. 107) Morris
himself was teaching a course in "creation science" at the College.
Working with fellow creationists Kelly and Nell Segraves, who had helped
establish a local chapter of the Bible Science Association--a hardline
creationist organization--Morris helped establish the Creation Science Research
Center, for the specific purpose of producing "creation science" materials which
could be used in public classrooms once the creationists succeeded in having
creation "science" put into the schools. Morris also founded the Institute for
Creation Research as a scientific laboratory for the Christian Heritage College,
with the avowed purpose of attempting to scientifically "prove" the literal
validity of Genesis.
Shortly afterwards, however, a power struggle broke out in the CSRC between
Morris and the Segraves. The Segraves wrested control of the Center, and
promptly disaffiliated it from the Christian Heritage College and from the ICR.
The CSRC and CRS still exist, but the brightest star in the creationist movement
since 1970 has been Morris and the Institute for Creation Research.
ICR remained affiliated with the Christian Heritage College until the early
1980's, when it became expedient for the creationists to downplay ICR's
religious connections and attempt to paint its Bible science research as a
purely secular, scientific institution. ICR today attempts to maintain the
fiction that it is a scientific institute with no religious affiliations, but
most ICR staffers, including Henry Morris and Duane Gish, are still adjunct
professors at the Christian Heritage College. The ICR carries out no field
research in any of the life sciences, and, despite its claim to be purely
scientific, it maintains its tax-exempt status with the IRS on the grounds that
it is a religious institution carrying out "non-scientific research".
A number of smaller creationist organizations also exist. The old Geoscience
Research Institute is still active. It is based at Loma Linda University, a
Seventh-Day Adventist college. For the most part, GRI avoids legislative or
political work, and focuses instead on providing creationist reference materials
to biology and geology teachers. GRI adheres to old-earth creationism.
Another small organization which gets some press occasionally is the Creation
Evidences Museum near Glen Rose, Texas. The Museum is run by the Rev Carl Baugh,
who has a PhD in anthropology from the College of Advanced Education, an
unaccredited Bible college on the grounds of the Sherwood Park Baptist Church.
The primary attractions of the Museum are the so-called "man tracks" from nearby
Dinosaur Valley State Park, along the Paluxy River. According to the
creationists, the state park contains dinosaur tracks alongside those of modern
humans, proving that the two lived together. Baugh has also claimed to have
found a fossil human tooth buried among the dinosaur bones. Ever since his major
claims (including the footprints and the "human tooth") have been debunked,
Baugh is viewed as somewhat of an oddball by the major creationist groups.
Perhaps some mention should be made of the fringe creationist groups which
even the ICR and CSRC acknowledge are a bit loony. The best known of these has
to be the Flat Earth Society, which argues on both scientific and religious
grounds that the earth is really flat, and that geological and astronomic data,
if properly interpreted, prove this to be true. (The Flat Earthers were recently
featured in a television special aired by the Discovery Channel cable network.)
Another fringe group is the Tychonian Society, which, unlike the Flat Earth
Society, accepts that the earth is round, but which argues, on scientific and
religious grounds, that the earth is at the center of the universe and the sun
revolves around it.
One of the most recent of the creationist groups is the Center for Creation
Research, which was founded in 1988 as part of the Moral Majority Inc.'s Liberty
University. Falwell and Moral Majority have long had close ties to ICR and other
creationists--Henry Morris himself was awarded an honorary doctorate from
Liberty University in 1989. The Center for Creation Research, which proudly
declared that it has the largest creation museum in the world, was directed by
former ICR staff member Dr. Lane Lester. It has since been closed for lack of
funding.
The CCR's influence came directly through its ties with Liberty University.
All Liberty students must take a semester-long class in creationist biology,
entitled "A History of Life". In addition, the university's Biology Education
Program heavily emphasizes a creationist view--and this program is accredited by
the state of Virginia to train teachers. This means that, in a few years,
teachers who have been trained in creation "science" will be eligible for
teaching jobs in Virginia and elsewhere--an accomplishment that no other
creationist organization has been able to match. (The ICR also has a "graduate
school" for students, but it is not accredited to train teachers.)
For the moment, however, the ICR is the shining star of the young-earth
creationist movement, and is responsible for most of the creationist literature
that is available today (ICR also produces creationist films in conjunction with
Films for Christ). The ICR makes a lot of self-congratulatory noise about its
"scientific credentials". Members of the ICR, it proudly declares, are required
to have an advanced degree in at least one of the sciences. They usually fail to
mention, however, that, like the CRS, all of its members must sign an oath
affirming their belief in a literal interpretation of Genesis and their
acceptance of Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. (Muslims, Jews, Buddhists,
and any other non-fundamentalist creationists are not allowed membership in the
ICR unless they renounce those beliefs and sign the ICR's oath of Biblical
infallibility.)
One of the ICR's favorite pamphlets is entitled "Twenty-One Scientists Who
Believe in Creation", which lists a number of holders of doctorates and masters
degrees in various scientific disciplines who assert the literal correctness of
Genesis. Of the 21 listed by ICR, though, only a tiny number hold a degree in
any of the life sciences. Three of the 21 hold doctorates in education, two are
theologians, five are engineers. The remainder include a physicist, a chemist, a
psycho-linguist, and a "food scientist".
Some creation "scientists", however, have been less luminary in their
academic achievements, and some have been downright dishonest. Of those claiming
to have degrees in biology or geology (areas which are relevant in assessing the
scientific evidence for the evolution model), at least some seem to have degrees
that are at best questionable and are at worst deliberate distortions or frauds.
"Dr." Harold Slusher, one of the co-founders of the CRS, got a doctorate degree
in geophysics from something called the Columbia Pacific University in
California. Mr. Slusher was forced by the CRS itself to drop the "Dr." title
from his name when it was discovered that this "university" is nothing more than
a non- accredited correspondence school, the kind that advertise on the back of
matchbooks. (Numbers, 1992, p. 288) Similarly, "Dr." Clifford Burdick of the
Creation Research Society flunked out of two separate programs before obtaining
a doctorate in geology from the "Arizona University of Physical Sciences", which
consists solely of a post office box at a non-accredited diploma mill. (Numbers,
1992, pp. 262-263)
The creationist movement also does not like to talk about the scientists who
leave after being given the opportunity to do real field research. In 1957, the
Geoscience Research Institute was formed in order to search for evidence of
Noah's Flood in the geological record. The project fell apart when both of the
creationists involved with the project, P. Edgar Hare and Richard Ritland,
completed their field research with the conclusion that fossils were much older
than allowed under the creationist assertions, and that no geological or
paleontological evidence of any sort could be found to indicate the occurrence
of a world-wide flood. (Numbers, 1992, pp 291-293) Hare concluded, "We have been
taught for years that almost everything in the geological record is the result
of the Flood. I've seen enough in the field to realize that quite substantial
portions of the geologic record are not the direct result of the Flood. We have
also been led to believe . . . that the evidence for the extreme age of the
earth is extremely tenuous and really not worthy of any credence at all. I have
tried to make a rather careful study of this evidence over the past several
years, and I feel that the evidence is not ambiguous but that it is just as
clear as the evidence that the earth is round." (cited in Numbers, 1992, p. 294)
Ritland, for his part, pointed out that Morris's book The Genesis Flood
contained "flagrant errors which the uninitiated person is scarcely able to
detect". (cited in Numbers, 1992, p. 294) Ritland concluded that further
attempts to justify Flood geology would "only bring embarrassment and discredit
to the cause of God". (cited in Numbers, 1992, p. 293)