Michael Shermer's Genesis Revisited: A Scientific Creation
When Darwin published his revolutionary The Origin of Species, he forever influenced the world. It rocked the Christian religion to its very core, providing clear evidence that animals had not been formed in a few days, but evolved over billions of years from the simplest forms of life. Darwin’s theory directly contradicted the story of creation in the book of Genesis in the Bible, and as a result, instigated an uproar among the religious community. Many Christians felt, as do many today, that evolution undermined the existence of a God and is often related with atheism. Unlike other theories, like atomic theory, relativity, and gravity, evolution directly contradicts scripture in the Bible and so has significantly affected the Christian religion.
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Among the public, it fueled the fight between science and religion. Over time, however, people began to accept his theory and reconcile it with their own religious views. Molleen Matsumura shows in her short essay “What Christians Really Believe about Evolution?” that of Americans in the 12 largest Christian denominations, 89.6% belong to churches that support evolution education (Matsumura, 572). Most Christians have adapted their beliefs to incorporate evolution. In Michael Shermer’s “Genesis Revisited: A Scientific Creation Story”, he parodies the Creation story in the Bible with his own, and by doing so accomplishes several things: he cleverly laughs at the beliefs of literalist Christians but also shows (probably unintentionally) that a belief in evolution and creation is possible. He shows that just because animals evolved and the universe began with the Big Bang, it does not mean that a God could not have made this happen. “And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together unto one place, and let the continents drift apart by plate tectonics. He decreed sea floor spreading would create zones of emergence, and He caused subduction zones to build mountains and cause earthquakes” (Shermer,
Among the public, it fueled the fight between science and religion. Over time, however, people began to accept his theory and reconcile it with their own religious views. Molleen Matsumura shows in her short essay “What Christians Really Believe about Evolution?” that of Americans in the 12 largest Christian denominations, 89.6% belong to churches that support evolution education (Matsumura, 572). Most Christians have adapted their beliefs to incorporate evolution. In Michael Shermer’s “Genesis Revisited: A Scientific Creation Story”, he parodies the Creation story in the Bible with his own, and by doing so accomplishes several things: he cleverly laughs at the beliefs of literalist Christians but also shows (probably unintentionally) that a belief in evolution and creation is possible. He shows that just because animals evolved and the universe began with the Big Bang, it does not mean that a God could not have made this happen. “And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together unto one place, and let the continents drift apart by plate tectonics. He decreed sea floor spreading would create zones of emergence, and He caused subduction zones to build mountains and cause earthquakes” (Shermer,