Religion/science conflicts & "hot" topics

Beliefs about the origins & development
of the species, the Earth, and the rest
of the universe.

People hold various conflicting beliefs about these topics. They include:

• Naturalistic Evolution, with the Theory of Evolution as its basis,
  
  
• Young Earth Creationism,
  
  
• Old Earth Creationism,
  
  
• Intelligent Design, and
  
  
• Theistic Creationism.

Only one of these -- or perhaps none -- can reflect reality.

This section discusses beliefs about both:

• Abiogenists (the origin of life) -- how the first living entity came to be, and

• the development of all the species of living entities that we observe today, including creation science, intelligent design, theistic evolution, and naturalistic evolution.

Specific topics are:

Introductory essays: (Please read these first)

• Conflicting quotations about the origins and development of the species, and of the Earth itself
  
  
• Scope of this section; promoters; various theories
  
  
• Terminology; details of various theories; age of the Earth
  
  
• Where and When Did the First Humans Live?
  
  
• NASA astronomer, Dr. Michelle Thaller, answers questions: "Where did we come from? What is human existence?"

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, up to the present time: Part 1 Part 2
  
  
• What is creation science?
  
  
  • Is creation science really a science?
    
    
• Opinion polls revealing what the public actually believes
  
  
• Teachings of 17 different religions & faith groups
  
  
• 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:

• Part 1 Part 2: "Religion & Science: The Evolution Controversy." An essay donated by Kyle Jorstad.
  
  
• 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
  
  
• 2004-FEB: Evolution v. creationism debate between Bill Nye & Ken Ham:
  • Part 1 The personalities. Why does the evolution/ creationism conflict exist? Comparing what scientists and the general public
    believe about evolution and creation. Is a debate between Ham and Nye a good idea?
    
    
  • Part 2 Video of the debate. Who won the debate? What arguments were used? Ken Ham's best arguments.
    
    
  • Part 3 Ken Ham's best arguments (Cont'd), Would a different debate structure be better?
    
    
  • Part 4 Questions believers in creationism ask, with answers that might come from evolutionists.
    
    
• 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: Part 1   Part 2
    
  • 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.
    

• Beliefs about the Earth's age by scientists creationist, and politicians
  
  
• 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
  

Additional donated essays by visitors to this web site:

• By David Wilson:
  • The Evolution-Religion controversy: The practical need for an understanding of evolution
    
    
  • The improbability of the Universe as it now exists
    
    
• By Alton C. Thompson:
  • It wasn’t supposed to be this way! Human variety, love, social cohesiveness, and survival of the species

Information, books, links, and news events:

• Web sites promoting evolution, Intelligent Design, and other points of view, and a DVD set

• Books in print advocating evolution, creationism, and Intelligent Design
  
  
  • A search in Amazon.com for books on the above three topics
    
    
• Panel discussion. Creation myths. Creationism links
  
  
• Scientific findings related to origins, creation, evolution, etc. 2005 to now
  
  
• The Muslim Times has a video collection titled: "Video Collection: EVOLUTION, Guided or Blind; every Thing you need to know?"
  

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

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References used:

1. Harriet McLeod, "South Carolina legislator seeks to give God credit for state fossil," Reuters, 2014-MAR-31, at: http://www.reuters.com/
2. Evan Bleier, "S.C. lawmaker won't let mammoth become state fossil unless God is credited as creator" UPI News, 2014-APR-02, at:
   http://www.upi.com/
3. "Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA): Evolution, Big Bang 'Lies Straight From The Pit Of Hell'." TPM, 2012-OCT-05, at: http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/
4. "Scientists to Texas Board of Education: Teach Evolution Right!," National Center for Science Education, 2009-MAY-19, at: http://ncse.com/
5. "Darwin Day approaches," The National Center for Science Education, 2015-JAN-12, at: http://ncse.com/
6. John Eligon & Michael Schwirtz, "Senate Candidate Provokes Ire With ‘Legitimate Rape’ Comment," New York Times, 2012-AUG-19, at: https://www.nytimes.com/
7. Mary Beth Griggs, "When Evolution’s Controversial, Declaring a State Fossil Can Get Tricky," Smithsonian Institutiom, 2014-APR-09, at: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/
   

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Originally published: 1995-NOV-03
Most recent update: 2021-JUN-03
Author: B.A. Robinson

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Latest update: 2020-JAN-
Author: B.A. Robinson

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