Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
deposit loose sediment. How, then, could the peak of the Flood have laid down all the sed-
imentary rocks before the waning stages ripped open the Grand Canyon and carved out the
world's topography?
And why does this museum have so many displays showing giant reptiles hanging out
with Adam and Eve when the Bible doesn't even mention dinosaurs? Because if Noah's
Flood is pretty much all there was to earth history since the Creation, then dinosaurs must
have lived alongside people in the days before the Flood. How did such beliefs gain trac-
tion?
We can trace the roots of modern creationism back to the nineteenth century, when geo-
logy emerged as a profession distinct from theology and natural philosophy. As geologists
abandoned Noah's Flood as a central subject and moved on to other pursuits, Christianity
splintered into those willing to accept geological findings and those who insisted on the
reality of a global flood. The later conflict over evolution served to strengthen such differ-
ences. As mainstream Protestants and Catholics adapted biblical interpretation to accom-
modate geology, a new breed of American fundamentalists defended the reality of a world-
destroying flood as central to their faith.
The Bible was one of the only traditional sources of authority that emerged from the
American Revolution unscathed (despite the best efforts of Thomas Paine). The war
fostered independence in multiple forms and encouraged the revolutionary conviction that
everyone (except women and slaves) possessed both common and moral sense. American
Protestants began rejecting traditional forms of authority, confident their own vision would
lead them closer to God. This commonsense populism paved the way for the fundamental-
ism that, in turn, spawned modern creationism.
In the early nineteenth century, camp meetings and revivals brought organized religion
along as westward migration took people far from the established churches of the eastern
seaboard. One of the first, Kentucky's Cane Ridge Revival of 1801, was attended by thou-
sands eager to hear populist preachers, gamble, and carouse—not necessarily in that order.
The popularity of the weeklong meeting taught frontier preachers a winning strategy for
spreading the Gospel across America.
In contrast to Presbyterian denominations that disciplined ministers who participated in
boisterous revivals, Methodists and Baptists used the rowdy meetings to swell their ranks.
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