Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
Huxley virtually credits Lyell with single-handedly creating the science of geology, ig-
noring the contributions of Buckland, Sedgwick, and others who also struggled with and
turned against the idea of a global flood. Perhaps Huxley relegated them to the background
because of their membership in the clergy, the villains of his story. Huxley's portrayal of
a century-long battle between Lyell's rationalism and blind faith in a catastrophic global
flood fostered the perception of an ages-old war between Christianity and science.
At the dawn of the twentieth century, geologists were almost entirely uniformitarians.
Lyell's dictate that the present was the key to the past had become geological dogma. A
growing body of geological evidence and alternative explanations for Siberian mammoth
carcasses effectively dismantled the remaining fragments of a case for a global deluge as
the primary driving force in earth history. But over the course of the twentieth century,
the rise of flood geology proponents among evangelical Christians fostered the view that
geology and faith—science and religion—could not peacefully coexist. Instead of trying to
refine their understanding of the biblical flood story in light of new knowledge, radically
conservative Christians broke with those who acknowledged scientific findings and began
to ignore, selectively cherry-pick, and actively undermine science to support their favorite
literal interpretation of the Bible. Today, we know them as creationists.
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