Creationist movements in the United States
Before and after the Scopes trial, a number of religious creationist movements were active in the United States, subscribing to various creeds. In the 20th century only a few persist in the belief that the earth is only a few thousand of years old along the so-called Young Earth Creationism line, following in the Patristic and Medieval tradition that endured up until Chateaubriand[1], who wrote in The Genius of Christianity (1802) that God had created the world “« with all the marks of antiquity [...] which it now exhibits »
”. Most allow for a creation that may indeed go back several million years, but remains instant and supposes species created by God roughly as we see them today (Old Earth Creationism). Others propose the idea of Intelligent Design[2] and claim they can demonstrate its process scientifically. In the United States they have spawned a number of Creationist museums, study centers, foundations and publications reaching via the internet far wider audiences. One such is the Creation Research Society[3] created in 1960 that today accepts members just as long as they adhere to a creationist Statement of Belief.
During the eighties President Ronald Reagan echoed Creationist doctrines, declaring that Evolutionism was “a scientific theory only” and opining that the Biblical account of creation should also be taught in schools. In 1982, an Arkansas court nevertheless decreed otherwise, reversing the “Balanced Treatment for Creation-Science and Evolution-Science Act”. This not withstanding, President George W. Bush was clamouring anew in 2005 for a “balanced treatment” of the Bible and Darwin...
