Evolution vs.Creationism Essay

The Scopes trial, writes Edward Larson, to most Americans embodies “the timeless debate over science and religion.” (265) Written by historians, judges, and playwrights, the history of the Scopes trial has caused Americans to perceive “the relationship between science and religion in . . . simple terms: either Darwin or the Bible was true.” (265) The road to the trial began when Tennessee passed the Butler Act in 1925 banning the teaching of evolution in secondary schools. It was only a matter of time before a young biology teacher, John T. Scopes, prompted by the ACLU tested the law. Spectators and newspapermen came from allover to witness

Since the beginning of the human race there has been a lingering question as to the origins of man and how all living things acquired their characteristics. The two main theories that arose over time were Creationism and Evolution, both of which provided very distinct answers to this question. Creationism based its answer on the idea of a supernatural power or being that created the entire universe, man and the numerous other organisms that live within it. While, Evolution theorizes that all living things have the potential to change and grow over time into something new and different. So in other words, one theory suggests that humans and all the organisms on Earth are the result of divine design, while the other indicates that they

“Everything in the Bible should be taken as it is given” Bryan. “The Scopes Trial” also known as “the Monkey Trial” was a very controversial trial because of what was at stake and what Scopes was on trial for. John Scopes was on trial for teaching Evolution in his 8th grade class. This trial was the first trial ever to be broadcast on the radio because of how controversial it was. There was also a book written in 1955 called Inherit The Wind which we will be comparing to the actual trial.

The Scopes Trial of 1925 was one of the quandary case ever witnessed by the American government and public. It was a conflict between science and theology, faith and reason. Lasting eight days this was one of the first media extensive coverage of that time resulted in thousands of print, interviews, and commentary sent from Dayton which helped to shape the public perception of what occurred in the nation. In addition, the trial was a maze run itself where many thought that it was challenging the constitutionality of the bill, to publicly advocate for the legitimacy of Darwin’s theory of evolution, many other thought it was a publicity stunt for the town of Dayton, Tennessee. In simple words, it was a contest between evolution and Christianity.

The two-hour special documentary, Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial, features the Kitzmiller v. Dover School District case in 2004. It captures the turmoil that tore apart the community of Dover, Pennsylvania in one of the latest battles over teaching evolution in public schools. Some members of the community believed that not only Darwinism, but also a so called theory, Intelligent Design, should be taught in their public high school. It was a battle between the two theories. It forced neighbor against neighbor and friend against friend. The community itself was broken half and half on the controversial issue.

Creationists view are opposite of the evolutionists view in many ways. The creationist’s question where matter comes from but the evolutionists would answer that it does not come from any place. The evolutionists would even ask the creationists where God came from since if everything comes from something, then God must come from something else and

Tension between the old and new not only occurred on an economic level, but as well as a religious level. As people began to turn more and more towards science to answer their questions, unbelievable amounts of strain arouse. One of these great conflicts was the Scopes Monkey Trial, also known as The World's Most Famous Trial. There were basically two conflicts present within this trial: that of the fundamentalists and the Darwinists, and that between the accepted beliefs of the time, and the new ones that challenged them. The standard belief was to accept what society and the Bible dictated. The difference in mentalities between the prosecutor, William Jennings Bryan and the defense attorney, Clarence Darrow, is seen when Bryan states that he himself "believe[s] everything in the Bible should be accepted as it is given there," and that "some of the Bible is given illustratively" [DOC C].

The definition of Evolution is ¨the process by which different kinds of living organisms are thought to have developed and diversified from earlier forms during the history of the earth,¨ (Dictionary.com, 2018). Although, the actual definition is hard to comprehend. Some consider Evolution to be a somewhat ridiculous topic that is far from true. Though others believe that, ¨Evolution by natural selection is one of the best substantiated theories in the history of science, supported by evidence from a wide variety of scientific disciplines, including paleontology, geology, genetics and developmental biology,¨ (Than, 2018). The main idea of Biological Evolution is that all life on Earth share a common ancestor. The term is a way of understanding life.

Creationists uphold the view in which God created the universe and everything it contains; they believe God started time and created life. Genesis 1:1 states “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (NIV Bible).” Throughout the first two chapters of Genesis, Moses describes the steps God took when creating the universe, light, stars, animals, land, sea, and yes, even

People may lump all creationists together in one group, but it is important to understand where they differ and why. Creationism comes in many different shapes and sizes. Some creationists believe in a flat earth. Some believe in a young earth. Other creationists believe in an old earth. A few portray creationism as scientific and others hide or try to remove this idea that God had no part in creating the universe. A few admit that creationism is just a religious belief with no connection to science whatsoever.

Since time immemorial man has always questioned the origins of life and himself . The answer to that question as there are three alternatives , namely the creation , transformation , or evolutionary biology .

In 1895 Charles Darwin published a book describing his theory of evolution, and his theory of the natural selection process. This theory caused much uproar in the religious community because Darwin’s theory went against the story of creation portrayed in the Holy Bible. His theory claimed that all life currently in place had evolved and adapted from a single organism in the beginning. Over time and by process of natural selection only the dominant species were left over while the other, less dominant species, went extinct. His theory, backed by scientific analysis, had dismissed the idea of a single deity creating all life on Earth. It is not like Darwin had a personal agenda against religion or anything,

The foundation for the theory of evolution was laid by Charles Darwin (Rose, n.d.). He developed hypotheses about natural selection which helped scientists develop the theory. Evolution is a theory and not a hypothesis because evolution has been proven by vast amounts of scientific data, research, and testing. The definition of a hypothesis is an educated explanation that needs to be researched and tested but has not yet been proven (Earman, 1984). There has been no scientific evidence to disprove the theory of evolution.

Controversy of the origin of life has increased. People feel evidence is necessary to determine a faith and many fear going against the word of God or nature of science. These people have established their own “religion” or belief called the intelligent design theory. Through a combination of scientific evidence and Biblical moralities, the intelligent design theory was established to accommodate believers in the divine Christ and the theory of evolution. This group believes that evolution is occurring, but that God created the start of all life. There are three main notions of the origin of life, evolution, creationism, and intelligent design.

Evolutionist believe that their carbon dating method is accurate and can specifically date fossils and bones back to a certain period in time. They believe this works for when something dies the carbon 14 it has in its body will start to decay. So when half of the carbon 14 that used to be in this living thing has decayed they say that it has been dead for 5730 years which is considered a half life. Creationists believe that Carbon Dating is inaccurate for many reasons. Charles Darwin was making the assumption that the earth has been around for billions of years when he published his book ‘On the Origin of Species’ in 1859. It was not until 1940 when radioactive Carbon 14 was discovered by Martin Carbon. Carbon dating was not invented until 1947 by Willard Libby (Radiocarbon dating). So how would we know that the fossils or bones are really that old back then? Also, Carbon dating is only reliable back to 50,00 years ago, so how do they determine the Earth is actually 4.5 billion years old with only 50,000 years of so called proof? The Big Bang, common ancestry and carbon dating are all proven false if you just use common sense. Although an evolutionist would probably bring up how was God created and how would we know God is real but that ties in with your faith. It is difficult to believe evolution with all this evidence that shows it is