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
  

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

Sponsored link

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/
   

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

Copyright © 1995 to 2020 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance. Yes, that is not a typo. We have been online for almost 24 years!
Originally published: 1995-NOV-03
Most recent update: 2020-JAN-29
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.

 

Sponsored link:

Copyright © 2020 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Latest update: 2020-JAN-
Author: B.A. Robinson

Go to the previous page, or return to the 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.