Previously, we discussed what I would hope was the fairly self-evident fact that a creationist is anyone who actually believes that the natural world, the Universe, and/or human life are creations, specifically brought into being by a higher power, deity, or supernatural force.
And yet, it should be apparent to anyone that creationist viewpoints vary wildly. There are creationists like myself - evolutionary creationists (sometimes called theistic evolutionists) - who openly and happily accept both the theory of evolution and the message of Scripture. We're not Biblical literalists in the strictest sense, in that we tend to reject the Book of Genesis as a historical resource (though we also tend to accept it, wholeheartedly, as a text which bears a divine message about the nature and identity of the creator). At the same time, we don't tend to regard the entirety of Scripture as being non-historical; I for one will defend to the death the idea that Christ was a literal person, God incarnate, who died for my sins and rose again from the grave after three days.
There are also creationists - progressive creationists - who accept, in general, that the age of the world numbers in the billions of years, but who likewise reject (to varying degrees) evolutionary theory. This is actually a fairly broad category, and encompasses such disparate elements as day-age creationists (also called gap creationists), proponents of Intelligent Design theory, and a handful of other groups as well.
And of course there are the Young Earthers, the people we most often tend to think of when we hear the term 'creationist.' Proponents of this philosophy tend to be strict Biblical literalists (or Koranic literalists, or Torah literalists). They view the creation stories related in the Book of Genesis as being literal accounts of actual historical events; they maintain that the world's age is between about 6,000 years and 10,000 years. Most also tend to regard the theory of evolution as an outright lie or deception wrought by either atheists or Satan (take your pick) with the specific intent of corrupting the good faith of Christians (or Muslims, or Jews; take your pick, again).
We've covered this, in brief, already. And we're going to cover it again in the upcoming days. Over the next few articles, I'd like to explore - in a little more detail - each of the major creationist philosophies, and the differences (subtle and profound) that exist between them.
If we can get that stuff out of the way, we can start looking at where these issues are cropping up in the world today with a better understanding of the views of the people in the stories, and the reason for their thoughts and actions.
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