Anticreation

A poll published by Newsweek March 31, 2007 found that about 91% of the population in the United States believes in God, and 48% believe that God created humans in their present form within the last 10,000 years. Despite these high numbers, we find the views of creationists are mocked by the media and actively discriminated against in public schools.

A number of organizations and even the National Academy of Sciences (a US national government agency) actively oppose creationism and lobby to keep these views from being taught in public schools. Most, if not all, such groups are motivated by a philosophical opposition to biblical creationism, and counter with arguments derived from naturalistic scientific research.

Anticreation in media

 * Main Article: Anticreation in Media

The belief in Biblical creationism, and in particular that the earth is 6000-10,000 years old, is ridiculed by the news, educational programming, and in popular culture.

Examples of popular culture anticreation can be found in shows like "The Simpsons", "Sopranos", "Family Guy", "South Park" and "Evan Almighty" where creationism is projected as a belief that is only held by people unable to think for themselves.

Anticreation in public schools

 * Main Article: Anticreation in Public Schools

Perhaps no place is anticreation sentiment more apparent than in the US public school system. Today Christian teachers are afraid of letting their faith be known and pray only in secret. Groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union quickly move to sue any school district if it is reported that a teacher is introducing intelligent design concepts. Numerous examples have also been documented where educators were discriminated against simply because of their views about God that never made it into the classroom.

This anticreation movement has been furthered by government agencies such as the National Academy of Sciences, which has gone so far as to publish booklets discouraging the teaching of creationism (See Science, Evolution, and Creationism). Government policy is also in place to prevent those who believe in God from receiving teaching certification.

Organizations

 * The National Academy of Sciences is a US national government agency that was created in 1863 to "investigate, examine, experiment, and report upon any subject of science or art" whenever called upon to do so by any department of the government. According to a 1998 report in the journal Nature, a recent survey found that 93% of NAS members are either atheists or agnostics. The biologists in the National Academy of Sciences were found to possess the lowest rate of belief of all the science disciplines, with only 5.5% believing in God. Their recent anticreation activities include the publication of Science and Creationism. This book, published in 1999, states unequivocally that creationism has no place in any science curriculum at any level.


 * The American Civil Liberties Union is strictly opposed to Creation. This organization says that Creation should not be taught in schools because it is a direct violation of the United States Constitution.  "The ACLU policy on religion in public schools states that '...any program of religious indoctrination -- direct or indirect -- in the public schools or by use of public resources is a violation of the constitutional principle of separation of church and state and must be opposed....'" "In 1980, the Board of Directors further clarified this policy by stating, 'ACLU also opposes the inculcation of religious doctrines even if they are presented as alternatives to scientific theories.'"  The ACLU believes that Creation is the perfect example of these doctrines. This organization mistakenly believes that there is no evidence for Creation; they think that people who interpret the Bible literally do not have any form of proof, but that they simply "just believe" without looking for any physical evidence.


 * The National Center for Science Education has devoted itself to the belief in evolution. It defends the "right" to teach evolution in schools,  while saying that Creation has no place within American educational facilities.  The organization claims to be religiously neutral, but is still extremely antagonistic towards the belief in Creation.  The Director of this center is Eugenie Scott, a physical anthropologist who taught at several universities before becoming the Director in 1987.  The NCSE gets involved in controversies over the belief of Creation and Evolution whenever possible.

Atheism

 * Main Article: Atheism

Atheism is a philosophical denial of the existence of God. A more active stance affirms the nonexistence of God, and proposes positive belief rather than mere suspension of disbelief.

Secular humanism

 * Main Article: Secular Humanism

Secular humanism is a branch of humanism that specifically seeks to separate itself from groups that believe in a deity. Simply stated secular humanism is a philosophical worldview or religion that shares beliefs based on atheism or agnosticism. Secular humanism is the only view that is and is allowed to be taught in the U.S. public school system.

Evolutionism

 * Main Article: Evolutionism

The most prominent belief to oppose creationism on scientific grounds is known as the general theory of evolution. This view, in the broadest sense, includes cosmic evolution beginning with big bang, the origin of life, and the common descent of biological life on Earth.

Theistic evolutionism

 * Main Article: Theistic evolutionism

Theistic evolutionism (also known as evolutionary creationism) is a form of old earth creationism whose advocates are frequently found actively opposing young earth creationism. As such, the position is generally considered anticreationary by many.

The perspective is derived from an attempt to reconcile Biblical teachings and the common evolution theory. Although, some people interpret this as a scientific theory, it is more of a philosophical view of origins. Those holding to this belief state that teachings of Creation and Evolution do not need to contradict. Theistic Evolutionists believe that God did in fact create the earth, but that he accomplished it over billions of years.

Anticreation response articles
The CreationWiki editorial staff is compiling responses to the claims of anticreationists. The majority of the pages are rebuttals to the anticreation sites, Talk.Origins and the EvoWiki. To browse the list of all response articles, see the anticreation response category.


 * Index to Creationist Claims - responses to the Talk.Origins Index to Creationist Claims. Response articles have now been written for all claims, but many can be improved.
 * Frequently Asked But Never Answered Questions - responses to the Talk.Origins FABNAQ.
 * The Revised Quote Book - responses to The Revised Quote Book: Looking at how Creationists Quote Evolutionists, published by Talk.Origins.

Notable anticreationists

 * Main Article: Anticreationist

Sites

 * Talk.Origins Archive
 * EvoWiki
 * No Answers in Genesis
 * Creationism versus Science

Icons

 * Flying Spaghetti Monster
 * Darwin Fish