Creationism, Evolution And The Big Bang

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Creationists often talk of the Big Bang Theory as if Darwin came up with it, though it was first advocated in 1927 by a Belgian physicist who was also a Catholic priest, Georges Lemaître. His name is sadly forgotten beside those of many other scientists, though the phrase ‘Big Bang Theory’ was suggested in 1949 by Fred Hoyle. Lemaître was quite guarded about letting his religious and scientific work conflict. His theories were also initially met with skepticism by Einstein. In 1951 the Pope, Pious XII, tried to declare Lemaître’s theory as proof of God starting the creation process but papal advisors and Lemaître advised him to back off, which he did. The Roman Catholics have rarely collided with cosmological science since. Darwin was a naturalist, and a geologist, not a physicist. He was not concerned professionally with the origin of matter or the beginning of the universe, but with how already existing animals and plants could evolve into new species. His theory was developed 20 years before he finally published conclusions concerning natural selection. Wallace and Darwin became friends and published some papers together. Creationists going by the opening verses of the book of Genesis, lump very different physio-chemical and biological processes together in one six day creation event beginning with the switching on of celestial light and culminating in a fully grown woman being instantly carved from a stolen rib from a sleeping man who was himself molded from mud. Darwin’s theories hit a slow burn reaction from the established churches, with atheistic evolutionists such as Thomas Huxley being very aggressive in defense of the science. Religion’s biggest problem was that Darwin claimed that humans evolved from apes rather than having a totally independent divine origin. The conflict peaked in the 1920’s when religious pressure groups started prevented biological, botanical evolution theories being taught in science classes. This conflict peaked in the 1925 Scopes Monkey trial, where a teacher, John Scopes, was successfully prosecuted for teaching evolution theory. It was 1968 before evolution was allowed back on the teaching curriculums in the US. Since then, Creationists have demanded that their theories of intelligent design be taught in equal measure to evolution theory. Though overall they are losing, Creationists remain frighteningly influential. Arthur Chappell