Introduction

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Creationism and intelligent design

Virtually all religions include an explanation for life on Earth in their scriptures. In the UK, and even more so in the USA, the creationism debate largely involves Christians.

In March 2006, Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, joined the evolution versus creationism debate when he said in an interview with the Guardian newspaper that he did not believe that creationism - the scriptural account of the origins of the world - should be taught in schools.

I think creationism is, in a sense, a kind of category mistake, as if the Bible were a theory like other theories. Whatever the biblical account of creation is, it's not a theory alongside theories. It's not as if the writer of Genesis or whatever sat down and said well, how am I going to explain all this... 'In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth...'Rowan Williams in The Guardian, 21 March 2006

So what is creationism all about - what does it mean, and why does it matter so much to many religious people? And what is intelligent design and how does it differ from creationism?

Creationism

The main points of creationism are these:

• All life was created by the actions of God
  • Some Creationists say God did this in a single creative event
  • Some Creationists don't limit creation to one event
• All the forms of life existing today were created by the actions of God
• The organisms created by God can't produce new forms of organism - only God can do this
• The most common theory follows the accounts in the Biblical Book of Genesis, but most religions have their own creation story
• Modern creationism uses scientific evidence to support scripture
• Most scientists say the creationism theory is false and unscientific

Intelligent design (also called neo-Creationism)

• The current state of life on Earth has come about through the actions of an intelligent Designer
• This is because
  • Some living things contain certain types of complexity that are best explained as the result of an intelligent cause
  • Some aspects of the universe show positive evidence of having been designed by some form of intelligence
• This designer need not be God but most proponents of intelligent design seem to have God in mind
• This theory has been accused of being creationism in disguise
• Although a few scientists have supported intelligent design, the majority of those working in the field regard the theory as false and unscientific

Creationism in depth

Creationism teaches that:

• everything in the universe has God as its ultimate cause
• the nature of life on Earth is the direct result of God's creative actions

An alternative way of putting the same idea is:

• the universe and everything in it could not have come into being without a supreme being causing it to happen

Creationism is largely based on religious belief, but gains much support from what its protagonists see as the failures of other theories to explain the evidence properly.

Different religions and cultures have different creation theories, but this article deals with the Jewish/Christian version.