ABSTRACT
In the following, we discuss creationism as a social movement in the United States. Creationism - religiously-based anti-evolutionism - is not a unitary phenomenon. It exists in various forms, from the reflexive antievolutionism seen in the bumper sticker which proclaims, ‘God said it, I believe it, and that settles it!’ to the subtle intelligent-design theory promoted by the Foundation on Thought and Ethics. But most forms of creationism are united by their origination among conservative evangelical Protestants. Despite their many theological differences, creationists tend to share a doctrinal emphasis on the Bible as the repository of divine revelation, and a consequent disposition to interpret scriptural accounts as literal truth whenever possible. They are usually uncomfortable with metaphorical interpretations of historical accounts in the Bible. The genesis of the creationist movement lies in the collision of this theology with modernist, naturalistic science as it manifests itself in evolutionary biology.
