I would go farther back than the theories you mention. The beginnings of modern
science with heliocentrism and inertia, e.g., were challenges to common sense. But
common sense develops with experience & the success of new ideas. When people had
adjusted to these over a couple of centuries, new ideas like evolution, relativity, &c
came along. Even the ages of the earth & universe are challenges to common sense. An
age of a few thousand years is something that we can have some idea of from everyday
experience. 10^10 years isn't. The values for the age of the universe from Bp. Ussher
and big bang cosmology are, as far as their psychological impact is concerned,
_qualitatively_ different, even though a mathematician can point out that the second is
just ~1.6 x 10^6 times the first.
YECs operate with the common sense of about 1800. Except for the lunatic fringe
they accept the motion of planets around the sun and Newton's laws of motion, but not
evolution or a long time scale. Some of them also object to relativity & quantum theory
even though those theories are not in any obvious discord with their literal reading of
Scripture.
George L. Murphy
gmurphy@raex.com
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/