Young Earth Creationism, a religious ideology which insists that the Earth is only around 6,000 years old, is not as popular as it once was in America but it also hasn't entirely disappeared, either. In fact, Young Earth Creationists may be among the most vocal and committed creationists because they have bought into biblical literalism completely, even rejecting allegorical readings of Genesis.

In Evolution: A Beginner's Guide, Burton S. Guttman writes about some of the facts in history and geology which clearly contradict Young Earth Creationism:

[S]ince creationists claim that everything originated about 4000 B.C.E., it is enlightening to put some historical perspective on this discussion, for they are in conflict with history and archeology as well as the natural sciences. There is good evidence that sheep were domesticated in northern Iraq around 9000 B.C.E., that wheat and barley were domesticated in southwestern Iran around 7000 B.C.E.

There was an extensive settlement at Jericho around 7500 B.C.E. Writing began in Sumer and Egypt around 3300-3100 B.C.E. The Akkadian civilization dates from 2800 B.C.E., and the empire of Sargon I lasted from 2350 to 2250. Advancing human civilization was not being disrupted by events that creationists must place during historical times, including unbearable heat and huge glaciers...

Young Earth Creationism is unambiguously and unquestionably wrong — there's just nothing about it which can be salvaged. For a person to adopt Young Earth Creationism, they must deny vast swaths of history, science, geology, archaeology, biology... just about every form of science we have as well as quite a few aspects of the humanities. The disconnect here from reality is about as extreme as one can possibly get — if they claimed that the Earth is flat and the sky is lavender, they wouldn't be much more disconnected than they already are.

How can a person be in such denial about facts which should be undeniable? It ultimately comes down to religious ideology: no one is a Young Earth Creationist for secular reasons. No Young Earth Creationist has any secular or scientific basis for their position; all they have is their Bible which they interpret more literally than just about any other Christian group in history.

They not only accept a literal interpretation of the Bible as the ultimate, final authority in all matters scientific but also in all matters social, political, and moral. They would not only have the nation adopt the Bible as the only guide to understanding our world, but also the only guide to structuring our society. It is for this reason that Young Earth Creationism has typically been accompanied by theocratic politics.

 

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