There are various forms of creationism in many cultures. One of the most popular tenets in cultures around the world are variation of pair of male and female that parent the entire earth of humans. They indicate generally that there is first cause of humans and animals, usually as a result of an omnipotent being. The Christian version of creationism, that preach God as the sole creator of everything, and that everything that we see today, are as they were when originally made. This view of the world has been perpetuated for many years by the Christian churches.
However, science has become the most imposing threat on these beliefs. Specifically, the Darwinian theories of evolution, with its concise, iconaclastic, logic, devastated the simplistic creationism. The Darwinian theories were never complex in theory, and somewhat intuitive. His theory of evolution was derived after voyaging on the HMS Beagle 1831 through 1836. The study of specimens from the voyage convinced Darwin that modern species had evolved from a few earlier ones. He documented the evidence and first presented his theories on evolution to a meeting of scientists in 1858.
In most cases, according to Darwin, no two members of any species are exactly alike. Each rganism has an individual combination of traits, and most of these traits are inherited. Darwin pointed out that gardeners and farmers commonly developed special kinds of plants and animals by selecting and breeding organisms that had desired traits. He believed that a similar kind of selective process took place in nature. Darwin called this process natural selection, or the survival of the fittest. He showed that living things commonly produce many more offspring than are necessary to replace themselves.
The earth cannot possibly support all these organism, and so they must compete for such necessities as food and shelter. Their lives also are threatened by animals that prey on them, by unfavorable weather and by other environmental conditions. Darwin suggest that some members of a species have traits that aid them in this struggle for life. Other members of the species have less favorable straits and therefore are less likely to survive. On the average, the members with favorable traits live for a longer period of time and produce more offspring than do others. They also pass on the favorable traits to their young.
The unfavorable traits eventually die out. In different places and at different time some traits will be avored and others will be eliminated. In this way, varieties of organisms appear and gradually become separate species. Darwinian theories have been controversial since the very conception. His theories of evolution through natural selection set off a bitter controversy among biologists, religious leaders, and the genera public. Many people thought Darwin had implied that human beings descended from monkeys, and they angrily criticized his revolutionary ideas.
But such noted British scientists as Thomas Henry Huxley and Alfred Russel Wallace supported Darwin’s work, and many groups eventually accepted his theories. These theories, and the facts that supported them, gave biologists new insight into the origin of living things and the relationship among various species. Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection stimulated studies in biology, particularly in paleontology and comparative anatomy. During the first half of the 1900’s, discoveries in genetics and developmental biology were used as evidence for theories of evolution that regarded natural selection as unimportant.
However, after World War II ended in 1945, Darwin’s theories again became the dominant influence in evolutionary biology in a form ften called Neo-Darwanism. Neo Darwinism gave a deeper explanation for the genetic origin of variation within individual species and for how species are formed. Darwin’s work had a tremendous impact on religious thought. Many people strongly oppose the idea of evolution or even teaching it, because it conflicts with their religious beliefs. The most noted historical example is the Scopes Trial of 1926.
This trial is one of the most famous and controversial legal cases in United States history, The trial involved a high school teacher named John Thomas Scopes, and it took place in Dayton, Tennessee in 1925. Scopes was found guilty of violating Tennessee law that made it illegal to teach the theory of evolution in public schools. By law, teachers in public schools were allowed to teach only the Biblical account of the Creation, which tells how God created human beings essentially as they exist today.
Many scientists at that time accepted the view that monkeys and humans had common ancestors, and so the Scopes case was often called the “monkey trial. ” The trial itself attracted worldwide attention, largely because of the participation of two celebrities, William Jennings Bryan and Clarence Darrow. Bryan, an unsuccessful andidate for president of the United States three times, aided the prosecution. He believed in fundamentalism, a movement whose members insist that words of the Bible should be taken literally. Darrow, a famous criminal lawyer defended Scopes.
Darrow strongly supported the right to teach evolution. Bryan, considered an expert on the Bible, accepted Darrow’s challenge to become a witness. Darrow humiliated and outsmarted Bryan in the cross examination. That particular cross examination has become historically unforgettable, and replicated in many movies. Legally however, the Scopes case was unimportant. Scopes was fined 100 dollars, but the onviction was later reversed because of a small legal error. The entire situation was only rectified in 1967, when Tennessee state legislature abolished it.
In spite of the Biblical argument, many religious people have no difficulty in accepting evolution. They maintain that God’s wisdom and guidance underlie the process of evolution. That has been the most accepted compromise, and also most consistent. A divine entity and scientific analysis and proof are in no way mutually exclusive from one another. The philosphical debates about the implications may not completely resolve the issue of creation and evolution, ainly because it would involved proving the existence of a divine entity.
However, the consensus of people have compromise throughout history. Even if the defenders of creationism may be openly victims of the various caveats in their beliefs, so too are the scientists. The same logistics used by an evolutionary theory, can also easily turned against it. If something preceded something else in all cases, then what exactly was the first cause? That paradoxical conflict is one that we would have the most to gain in resolving, but in the meantime leaves room for the coexistence of metaphysics and science.
