Williamstown, Ky. (AP) – Some people thought 1925 Scope Sal Trial It marked the cultural defeat of biblical fundamentalism.
However, a century later, when it was called the Trial of the Century, the problem is far from being resolved. Many American adults still embrace creationism. This is a belief in the literal truth of the book of Genesis, the origins of the earth and humanity.
Certainly, John Scope, a Tennessee public school teacher, was convicted in 1925 of violating state laws against teaching human evolution. But it looked like a vicious victory for creationists.
That’s because he was upset when the prosecutor’s team star and populist politician William Jennings Bryan took his position as an expert witness. He struggled to protect the miraculous and mystical biblical stories.
but Creationists’ beliefs are resilient. Polls generally show that they hold beliefs consistent with the creationism of the young Earth, depending on how they ask questions.
That belief is most evident in the northern Kentucky region, hosting a museum of creation and a huge replica of the Bible. Noah’s Ark. They employ 1.5 million visits a year.
This trend warns science educators that evolutionary evidence is overwhelming and they see creationism as part of an anti-science movement that affects responses to serious issues like climate change.
Kentucky Ark
Kenham began speaking in favor of the middle and mid-to-day scope trials 50 years ago as a teacher at a young Australian school. He expanded his job by establishing responses at Genesis, a huge company that includes books, videos and homeschool curricula.
The organization opened the Creative Museum in 2007 in Petersburg, Kentucky, near Cincinnati. Visitors are greeted by a diorama depicting children and dinosaurs interacting peacefully in the gardens of Eden. The museum has recently added several exhibits that argue for a literal interpretation of the biblical creation story.
Most dramatically, Genesis’s response opened the Ark Encounter theme park in 2016 near Williamstown, Kentucky. The main attraction is “the world’s largest freestanding wood frame structure,” says Ham. It is 510 feet long (155 meters) or half a half of a long soccer field. 85 feet (26 meters) wide and 51 feet (16 meters) high.
Like a museum, the park contains numerous exhibits that argue about the validity of the Ark. Noah, his wife, his three sons, and his wife have the skills and means to keep thousands of animals in care. The park also includes theme park attractions such as a zoo, zipline and virtual reality theatre. Similar theatres are being planned for Tennessee’s tourist hub Pigeon Forge and Branson, Missouri.
“The main message of both attractions is basically this: Bible history is true,” says Ham. “That’s why the history-based gospel message is true.”
Creationists’ beliefs
The core beliefs of Christian creationism are:
– God creates heaven and earth by Fiat on 6 literal days, and man as the crown of creation.
-The Earth is only thousands of years ago.
– Man sinned, which brought death and suffering to the world (and ultimately possessed the need for salvation through Jesus Christ).
– God has owned the animals that breathe animals in the global flood, due to human evil. God spawned Noah and his family, constructed a large box, and instructed them to bring in pairs of animal species and save them from extinction.
– Floods explain geological phenomena such as the Grand Canyon.
Science educators’ concerns
According to vast and long-standing scientific consensus, the above biological and geological claims are ridiculous and completely lacking evidence.
The consensus is that the Earth was billions of years ago. Humans and other living beings have evolved from their early forms over millions of years. And mountains, canyons and other geological features are due to structural upheaval and erosion for millions of years. 2014 Pew Research Center’s poll It turns out that 98% of American scientists are embracing evolution.
“The concept of direct connection between evolution and deep time is an important part of the science curriculum,” says the American Geological Association.
Evolution is “one of the safest and most established scientific facts,” says the National Academy of Sciences. The Academy encourages public schools to stick to scientific consensus and that creationism is not a viable alternative. Creationists said that by starting with inflexible conclusions rather than building evidence towards conclusions, they “reverse the scientific process.”
Courts – and public opinion
Creation and evolution may not be a front burner issue today, but scope trials have set templates for school books and other culture wars over gender policy. The words of William Jennings of his time would sound familiar to modern school board meetings with “public school teachers must teach what taxpayers want.” ”
Scope cases included the 1925 conviction of John Scope, a school teacher in Dayton, Tennessee, violated state laws against education in public schools.
Tennessee repealed the law in 1967, and the U.S. Supreme Court held in 1968 that similar Arkansas laws promoted unconstitutionalism. The High Court in 1987 overturned Louisiana law requiring that creationism be taught as it evolves. Similarly, a 2005 federal court ruling prohibited the Dover Regional School District in Pennsylvania from presenting “intelligent design” as an alternative to evolution. Unlike the creationism of the young planet, intelligent design claims that nature presents the evidence of designers.
A survey by the Pew Research Center found that 17% of US adults agreed that humans have existed in their current form since the “start of time.”
A 2024 Gallup survey found that 37% agreed that “God was created in the present form at once within the last 10,000 years.”
The difference may be due to the question phrase and the circumstances of the investigation.
In both studies, the majority of Americans believe that humans have evolved, and within that group, God has a more role in evolution than what happened without God’s intervention.
Catholics and many Protestants and other religious groups accept all or part of evolutionary theory.
However, many conservative evangelical denominations, schools and other institutions promote the beliefs of young earth creationists.
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Associated Press Religious Reporting is supported through the Associated Press collaboration With funding from Lilly Endowment Inc., the AP is in a conversation by taking sole responsibility for this content.
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