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Education about Age of the Earth
Here is a summary of young-earth education and old-earth education by Christians:
• The General Context: Almost all scientists think there is overwhelming scientific evidence, from a wide range of fields, proving (beyond any reasonable doubt) that the earth and universe are very old. This view is taught in all public schools (K-12 through college) and some Christian schools (K-12 through college) and the old-earth scientific consensus is assumed in popular media: in television, radio, movies, books, websites, newspapers, and in other ways.
• CHRISTIAN YOUNG-EARTH EDUCATION: This general "old-earth education" is challenged by Christians who think Genesis 1 teaches us that the earth is young, with everything being created in six days, 6000 years ago. They have launched an aggressive educational campaign, mainly since 1961, to promote their view.
• CHRISTIAN OLD-EARTH EDUCATION: The success of young-earth promotion has motivated educational responses by others in the Christian community, especially scientists who understand the strong evidence for an old earth, and who think the young-earth claim — that "if the Bible is true, the earth is young" (which means "if the earth is not young, the Bible is not true") — is not justified, and is not wise.
This page describes educational actions by Christians who propose
young-earth and old-earth views,
and from ASA.
Christian Young-Earth Education
We'll focus on two major organizations promoting
young-earth creationism: Institute
for Creation Research (ICR) founded by Henry Morris, and Answers in
Genesis (AiG) led by Ken Ham.
Within
the Christian community, a major appeal of a young-earth view is simplicity. The
leaders of ICR and AiG acknowledge only two basic models, creation (based
on believing the Bible) and evolution (dedicated to opposing the Bible); creation is
only young-earth creation, and evolution includes all old-earth views. The
heroes and
villains are clearly defined, and they demand a simple choice: Do you
want to be with God, or against Him?
For example, Henry Morris — who revived young-earth
flood geology with his 1961 book, The
Genesis Flood — vigorously opposes all old-earth views. In The
Compromise Road (1988) he said, "The basic conflict
of the ages is between the two world views of evolutionism versus creationism. In
its most explicit form, this conflict comes down to Biblical revelatory creationism
versus evolutionary humanism. ... The road of compromise [when a Christian
proposes any old-earth view of creation], however attractive it seems, is a one-way
street,
ending
in
a
precipice
and
then
the
awful void
of ‘rational religion,’ or
atheism."
This strong belief has motivated a strong
program of educational (and political) activities.
In 1981, the Institute
for Creation Research describes their wide-ranging
activities
in The
Battle for
Creation. Later, in 1995, ICR,
for
Such a Time as This is
an 11-part series about the 25-year history and continuing mission of ICR,
written
by Henry Morris and his son, John
Morris, who is now leading ICR.
At the beginning of 2004, Ken Ham — speaking for
Answers in Genesis and disturbed
by
"the continuing loss of Christian morality and the Christian
worldview in this culture" and believing that "a
major contributing factor to
this terrible
slide lies with churches and church leaders who have been misled into major
compromise" — announces that "we [in
AiG] are
inaugurating ‘Operation:
Refuting Compromise’ as
a major
thrust for 2004 to combat this sad situation. ... We must move ahead as
soldiers
in a battle,... to defend the Christian faith
and uphold the Word of God! ... Join us as we confront the culture — and
a compromising church — with
the truths of God's Word beginning in Genesis." (5 k)
Education in young-earth belief begins
early. Stacia McKeever and Mike Riddle, writing for AiG,
describe strategies for Teaching
Young Children the Creation-Gospel Message and Reaching
the Next Generation with the goal of "reaching
as many young people as possible with biblical truths."
In 2002, Passing
the Torch of Creation was an event in Southern California, with young-earth
creationists
from
the
older
generation — Chuck Smith (founder of Calvary Chapels), Tim LaHaye (co-author
of the "Left
Behind" series), Duane
Gish (expert debater for ICR), and Henry
Morris (founder of ICR)
— "sharing their lifetime experiences and passing
on spiritual and tactical wisdom for the twenty-first century" with the goal
of "preparing
and
exhorting
future generations to proclaim the truth of creation
and
stand firm on God's Holy Word."
Young-earth
"creation science" is taught in some private Christian
schools for K-12, and it's dominant (almost a monopoly) in homeschool education:
In homeschooling, young-earth creationists
got in early and became firmly entrenched, so all of the commonly used science
books are young earth. Young-earth creationists are often
invited to be featured speakers at major conferences, but prominent old-earth
creationists (Hugh Ross, Robert
Newman,...) are not. For example, Ken Ham is featured (in
four
workshops and a keynote lecture) in 2008 at the largest
homeschool conference in Southern
California.
A rare dissenter, John Holzmann (from
Sonlight
Curriculum,
a home school supplier), asks Young-
and Old-Earth Creationists: Can We Even Talk Together? (60 k
+ 5k), which brought an attack-response by Jonathan Sarfati (originally
for Answers
in
Genesis, now for Creation Ministries International): introduction (4 k) & leading
homeschool supplier misleads about biblical creationist exegesis (103 k,
with 49 k copied from Holzmann + 54 k of responses)
There is also effective
"young-earth creation outreach" in other ways, with:
EVENTS (in CHURCHES and elsewhere) — Many speakers
and
conferences
are offered by Answers
in Genesis (20 are listed for July 2008 when I'm writing
this) and the Institute
for Creation Research. Positive responses to events are reported by
Ken Ham (1991) and Henry Morris
(1994 & 1995).
RADIO BROADCASTS — AiG's Answers...
with Ken Ham has a daily 90-second broadcast on more than 1000 stations
worldwide,
plus 60-second mini-dramas about
non-creationist topics; ICR's Back
to Genesis (in English and Spanish) is on 600 radio stations. [ICR article
is
from
2005]
MUSEUMS — ICR has a Museum
of Creation and Earth History with free admission. AiG's new Creation
Museum is high-tech
and
spectacular; it opened
in May 2007 and drew 400,000 visitors in its first year (with $22 admission for
adults),
more
than
the
250,000
predicted by AiG. They say, "The Creation Museum
presents a ‘walk
through
history.’ * Designed
by a former Universal Studios exhibit director, this state-of-the-art 70,000
square foot museum brings the pages of the Bible to life. A fully engaging,
sensory experience for guests. Murals and realistic scenery, computer-generated
visual effects, over fifty exotic animals, life-sized people
and dinosaur animatronics, and a special-effects theater complete with misty
sea breezes and rumbling seats." {* editor's
note: Of course, it's a young-earth version of history, based on a young-earth
science that most scientists think is science
fiction. }
BOOKS — Some mainstream Christian publishers
are happy to publish young-earth books, due to the large sales they typically
generate. The major young-earth organizations also publish their own
books,
and sales of textbooks & tradebooks to home schoolers is a big business.
MISSIONS — The Institute for Creation Research
describes
its
young-earth
outreach around the world, in articles from 1999 & 2006 and
Henry Morris (1991) explains The
Importance of Creation in Foreign Missions. {note: the original title of
this article, in 1986, had "Creationism" instead of "Creation"} You
can see the wide reach of International Creation Ministries (click "Set
Country"
in the upper-right corner of their homepage and
click a red button on their global
Events Calendar)
and
Answers in Genesis (look at the many options for "Country" in their event-search).
AiG
describes Creation Evangelism for missionaries in The
Great Commission (1 k) and Building
a Foundation on Creation (2 k) and Using
Gospel
Literature (6 k) {editor's note:
These pages correctly emphasize the importance of explaining that Jesus
is Creator
of the world, and all
Christians
agree, but we shouldn't agree with the claim that the 6 days in Genesis
requires that we teach young-earth creation
in six 24-hour days, rather than creation in six long yom-ages, or with
the six days forming an age-neutral framework for history, as discussed
in CREATIONIST INTERPRETATIONS
OF GENESIS ONE.}
note: links with CAPITAL LETTERS take you to another links-page (like this page)
What is true? A major
motivation for Christian old-earth education is a concern for truth, coupled
with a belief that it's not wise to link the Gospel of Jesus with A Young
Earth (as discussed in AGE
OF THE EARTH — THEOLOGY)
in a package deal where either "both are true" or "both are
false." If
a person thinks these are the only options, a common choice is "both
are false"
because almost all scientists have concluded — due to multiple
independent confirmations from a wide range of fields, with strong
support from evidence and logic in each field — that
the earth and universe are extremely old. If the earth is not old,
a large part of modern science (in many different fields) is wrong. (see AGE
OF THE EARTH — SCIENCE)
What is truth? young-earth education will
be mis-education IF
(as seems probable)
they are teaching
a
view
that is
not the truth because it does not correspond with reality, because
it does not match what actually happened in the history of nature. And
there is abundant scientific evidence that the
earth actually is old.
What about the package
deal of "The Gospel plus Young Earth"? Henry
Morris (in 1988, Is
creationism important in education?) boldly declares that "If
God's Word cannot be trusted and understood in Genesis, then why should
we bother with it anywhere else? All of Scripture stands or falls upon
the reliability of its foundational chapters."
Wow. Henry, along with many current
young-earth creationists, thinks that "if
the earth is not young, the Bible is not true." This can have
tragic spiritual consequences, when a Christian
who thinks "believing the Bible requires belief in a young earth" examines
the scientific evidence and concludes "the earth is old" and then "if
the Bible is wrong about the earth's age, maybe it's also wrong about the
rest." When this happens, faith
can be weakened or abandoned, as we see in Personal
Experiences of Former Young-Earth Creationists. (17 k)
For another
perspective on personal experiences, In
Six Days: Why 50 Scientists Choose to [still] Believe in Creation contains
personal stories — plus arguments (theological, philosophical, scientific) — from
intelligent, well educated young-earth scientists. In a candid admission
that is probably more common than most young-earth scientists are willing to
acknowledge in public, Kurt Wise says "if all the
evidence in the universe turned against creationism, I would be the first to
admit it, but I would still be a creationist because that is what the Word
of God seems to indicate. Here I must stand." He is
a brilliant scientist who says that in high school he was bothered
by differences between the order of creation as described in Genesis 1 and
in
conventional
old-earth science; this question is discussed, along with
a proposal that the 6 days are a non-chronological framework for history, in CREATIONIST
INTERPRETATIONS OF GENESIS 1.
A belief that "young-earth belief is necessary" motivates
many Christians to adopt a highly skeptical "postmodern" view
of historical science (including astronomy, geology, and radiometric dating)
so they can challenge its reliability in an effort to discredit a set of witnesses
that is testifying against
their young-earth
view. This
can lead to feelings (among themselves and in non-Christians)
of CONFLICT
BETWEEN SCIENCE AND CHRISTIANITY along with an exaggerated
emphasis on the when-and-how details of creation, relative
to everything else in a Christian worldview and in Christian living. {a
clarification: Although young-earth creationists tend to define theological
orthodoxy in terms
of the when-and-how of creation, and they think young-earth doctrines
are an essential foundation for correct Christian doctrines, they don't
think young-earth beliefs are necessary for personal salvation.}
Despite these motivations for promoting old-earth
education, it isn't well organized or effectively distributed (compared
with
young-earth
education) within the Christian community. But
we do see some educational actions:
OLD-EARTH CREATION WEBSITES with a large amount
of high-quality content include Reasons
to Believe (Hugh Ross plus Fazale Rana & others), God
and Science (mainly Rich Deem), and Answers
in Creation (Greg Neyman); ASA's website is discussed below.
Greg Neyman has a good attitude toward young-earth
creationists, and is optimistic about improved relationships between Christians
who
differ
mainly in their conclusions about age of the earth,
in
his
pages
from 2003 and
2005. By
contrast, you'll be amazed at the nasty things that prominent young-earth creationists
might
be
saying
about God (if
the earth really is old) and certainly are saying about their fellow Christians,
when
you
look at quotations
throughout a links-page about AGE-THEOLOGY.
In addition to websites, old-earth education also
occurs locally (with teaching by Christians in churches, private schools,...)
and
in the
overall context of society as in public
schools and "informal
education" that doesn't reject the old-earth consensus of scientists.
But the
only old-earth organization comparable to Answers in Genesis and Institute
for Creation Research (advocating a young earth) is ...
Reasons
to Believe — founded and led by Hugh Ross, RTB has events (speakers
and radio
interviews) in Southern California (by Hugh Ross, Fazale Rana, and others)
and occasionaly in other areas; top-of-page links show events in previous
years.
In addition to "interview events" on
broadcast
radio, RTB-Radio has
a weekly 2-hour webcast. But they don't seem to have regular
shows on radio stations, like the 1600 stations with
daily broadcasts by AiG and ICR.
They are not invited to be speakers at homeschool
conferences, but sometimes are allowed to participate, along with a sister
organization (Old
Earth
Creation
Homeschool) which gives a report
from Oklahoma and
has an online
homeschool support group. Their books are not "pushed" by
homeschool organizations (which typically adopt an exclusive young-earth position)
although
open-minded homeschooling parents can decide to buy books from RTB, by
Ross and other authors.
Hugh Ross has a strong evagelistic ministry, with
an emphasis on CHRISTIAN
APOLOGETICS that uses science and is based on the Bible. He
speaks
at
universities
and
is
generally well respected
by fellow scholars, and by most people in the Christian community.
But
due to his influence among Christians, Ross is perceived
as a threat to young-earth creationism, and he is a
focal point
for
strong
criticism. Ross describes the situation in Chapter
1 of his book, A Matter
of Days, which begins, "Sticks and stones may break
bones,
but words do more
damage
than people can imagine." Responding to this short chapter
(16 k), Jonathan Sarfati wrote
a long critique (59 k,
including quotes of Ross).
And when Ken Ham explains what's
wrong with progressive creation it's about the "Rossism" of
Hugh Ross. You can read the introduction of
a book by Jonathan Sarfati that includes Ross in the title, Refuting Compromise:
A Biblical and Scientific Refutation
of "Progressive
Creationism" (Billions
of Years) As Popularized by Astronomer Hugh Ross. The
pioneer of modern young-earth creationism, Henry Morris, set the tone in 1961
by saying that
progressive creation "is
less acceptable than theistic evolution [because it] charges God with ignorance
and
incompetence. ... A god who would have to create man by any such cut-and-try
discontinuous,
injurious
method as this can hardly be the
omniscient, omnipotent,
loving God of the Bible." (this quote is from 1973 but
he says the
same thing
in 1961 in The Genesis Flood and throughout the rest of his life)
As an example of the current
intensity of negative feelings against Hugh Ross, we can look at reviews
of his book, Creation
and Time:
• The young-earth community has produced many negative
reviews of this book, including a series by authors (Mark Van Bebber and Paul
Taylor) who mimicked his title in
their
own book, Creation and Time: A Report on the Progressive Creation Book by
Hugh
Ross: Chapter 1 (A
Key Tactic of Progressive Creationism) argues against a claim, made by Ross
and other old-earth creationists, that the
earth's age is not an essential doctrine; the Table
of Contents links to four chapters: 1, 2, 3, and conclusion. (Ch 1 is 19 k)
• A counter-review (of
the book by Van Bebber & Taylor) is from Mark Clark, who is writing for Reasons
to Believe.
• Selected chapters FROM the book, which used to be on the web, are no
longer available for free (you must purchase the book) although Amazon has a brief
excerpt with the cover, contents, and first 4 pages. And here is a
brief summary
of the chapters (3 k).
• also: another book by Hugh Ross (a deceiver of evangelicals?) is reviewed
by Jonathan Sarfati in his Exposé of The
Genesis Question: serious biblical and scientific errors deceive evangelicals (38 k)
ASA's Education about Age
Age-Education in ASA — As individuals,
members
of
the American
Scientific
Affiliation
(ASA) are free to educate in any way we want, and most of us think the earth
is
old.
Age-Education by ASA — As an organization, ASA does
not
take
official
positions
about controversial creation questions — we want to provide
an open
forum for Christians
to discuss issues related to science and Christian faith — but...
Creation-Views & Actions
of ASA affirms our most important creation view ("the
God who loves us is also the God who created us and all things")
and explains ASA's foundational commitments to our statement
of Christian faith and to integrity in science. And it describes
"actions of ASA, motivated by the commitment to intellectual
integrity (in both
science
and theology) that
has
guided ASA
from its early days [in the 1940s] until the
present": ASA's age-education began internally with a 1948
symposium
that
presented
scientific
evidence for an old earth; since 1949, and especially in recent decades,
our
journal
has
published
mainly
old-earth
articles; the current consensus
among
ASA
members
and
leaders
is illustrated by a recent project,
• From 2000 to 2005, the ASA Lay Education
Project worked to develop a book that would explain our scientific knowledge
about age of the earth & universe, with scientific integrity but at a level
so the science could be understood by intelligent nonscientists. Two
main objectives were "to show that scientific evidence
supports an old Earth and Universe, and diminish the misuse of science to support
a young Earth; to show that scripture does not require a young-earth
interpretation. (from ASA's
2004 Annual Report)" This book project was abandoned in
2005, for reasons that were not related to these two objectives.
In this website for Whole-Person Education you can see our "multiple views" approach to education (with goals of promoting Accurate Understanding and Respectful Attitudes) by clicking links that are CAPITALIZED in the section above or by visiting areas that are most relevant for questions about age — Age of the Earth (theology) and Age of the Earth (science) plus Using the Two Books of God and Christian Education — in the Sitemap for Creation Questions. In addition, Jack Haas (another website editor) has made Topics Pages for Bible & Science and other topics.
Here are some resources for "education about age" from Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith (PSCF, the journal of ASA) since 1990, and — where noted — elsewhere:
• What Do You Do? by Darryl Maddox, who describes a gracious attitude and productive responses for a variety of situations involving a presentation of questionable science that is being made to Christians (11 k)
• The
Transformation of a Young-Earth Creationist by Glenn Morton (9 k)
• The
Testimony of a Formerly Young Earth Missionary by Joshua
Zorn (23 k), this is not from PSCF but is hosted on the ASA Website,
and
so
is a page written by Craig Rusbult (editor) for Christians who
are
in
"what can I do?" situations
like
those
of Morton and
Zorn, Bible-Based
Theology
for young-earth Christians
From the Affiliation
of
Christian Geologists which is an affiliate of ASA:
• Joe
Christian Needs to Hear From Us by Roger Wiens, who suggests better education
at the "grass roots" level (7 k),
• Geologists
in the Pulpit: Raising the Scientific Literacy of your Church by Stephen
Moshier, who wants scientists to "encourage our congregations to consider
these problems [caused by claims that science shows the earth is young]
and re-evaluate the motives and ‘success’ of
creation science. (10 k),
• The
Christian Public and Geology by Davis Young, about geology education in the
Christian
community (7 k),
• Biblical
Exegesis and Science by John Suppe, with ideas from cross-cultural communication (5 k),
• and other essays.
• Fanciful Bible-Science Stories' Harm: A Call to Action — Dan Wonderly is concerned because "the conservative evangelical community is being taught that the proper Christian stance is to reject practically all research data which are derived from the work of earth scientists, paleontologists, astronomers, and physicists," and he suggests that a gracious "dissemination of scientific information to the conservative evangelical ministers, youth leaders, and teachers of our nation can have a strong impact if we seek God's help in the effort." (10 k)
• In 1992, two articles by David
Siemens led to these suggestions for age-education:
• Gordon Brown agrees with Siemens, but suggests Starting
With More Basic Misconceptions. (2
k)
• Fred Phelps also agrees, and he describes
the need, in the mission field, for
useful
educational materials about young-earth science; he thinks ASA should
produce a
pro-Christian pamphlet
that is for scientific integrity in age-science and age-education. (1
k)
• A
Missionary Evaluation of the Creation-Science Controversy — For "education
about creation" in the scientific community, Al Hammond recommends an
approach that "has been bringing fruitful response
on distant mission fields... [and] must also be expressed to the men and
women of our worldwide science communities." He thinks
we should use the principles of intercultural missiologists who try to "bring
the culturally transcendent gospel message into the cultural context of the
target community" when we're trying to evangelize the community
of scientists (in America or elsewhere), analogous to what we do in reaching
non-western cultures that are the usual focus of intercultural missions work. (10 k)
PSCF {editor's note: A similar approach can be useful in communicating
with Christians who have been taught that "if the earth is not young,
the Bible is not true."}
LEFTOVERS (probably
these will be cut soon)
Rob Moll (to explain why some people think Young Earth Creationism
Makes Life Difficult for Everyone) reports on an article by Hanna Rosin, Rock
of Ages, Ages of Rock by Hanna Rosin {note: the article is less hostile
than its title implies}
| A DISCLAIMER: In this page you'll find links to resource-pages expressing a wide range of views, which don't necessarily represent the views of the American Scientific Affiliation. Therefore, linking to a page does not imply an endorsement by ASA. We encourage you to use your own critical thinking to evaluate everything you read. |
This website for Whole-Person Education has TWO KINDS OF LINKS:
an ITALICIZED LINK keeps you inside a page, moving you to
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This page, written by Craig Rusbult (editor of the website
for Whole-Person Education), is
http://www.asa3.org/ASA/education/origins/PAGETITLE.htm
and was revised
May 29, 2009