Sekino, Yuji. Translated by Gary Fujino. "Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism: The Problem of American Christian Fundamentalism for Japanese Evangelicalism." (原理主義と福音主義 -- 米国キリスト教原理主義に見る日本の福音派の問題). Japan Evangelical Association Theological Commission Pamphlet 6 (May 2006): 17-48.
Link to pages: [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ] [ 7 ] [ 8 ]
III. A PHENOMENON PARTICULAR TO THE UNITED STATES: THE DEBATE OVER EVOLUTION VERSUS CREATIONISM
As the confrontation between mainline and conservative Christianity increased in its intensity at the beginning of the 20th century, the high school science curriculum was changed and the subjects of botany, zoology, and geology were combined under “biology.” The authors of these textbooks, (students of) the new age that had received education since the publication of Darwin’s, Origin of the Species (1859), see for example G. W. Hunter’s 1914 text (which was later used by John Scopes) boldly introduced Darwin’s theory of biological evolution up through the evolution of human beings. It goes without saying that fundamentalists were repulsed by this. Between 1923-1929, as laws against the teaching of evolutionary theory were being passed in Oklahoma, Florida, Tennessee (the Butler law in Tennessee was one of these, which prohibited touching on the subject of the evolution of humans in the public educational system), Mississippi, and Arkansas, the Scopes trial came about in Tennessee in 1925 (see above).
At the end of the 1950’s, around the time of the 100th anniversary of the publication of The Origin of the Species, articles related to the theory of evolution began to appear again in textbooks. The confrontation between the theories of evolution and creationism took the stage and flared up once more in school boards and public schools. In the midst of that, The Creation Flood: The Biblical Record and its Meaning was published by John C. Whitcomb and Henry Morris in 1961. This book is called “The Origin of the Species” for the history of ideas on creationism. From the latter half of the 1970’s, the “creation science” movement was started by scientists with PhDs in the natural sciences. The Institute for Creation Research (ICR) was established as the research organ of Christian Heritage College in 1972, and became independent in 1981. “Creation science is the same kind of science as biological evolutionary theory. And biological evolutionary theory is the same kind of religion as creation science.” These are the words of ICR director, Henry Morris (see____, p. 97).
The “Equal Classroom Time” law was passed in 1981 in Arkansas and Louisiana. This was a movement which attempted to include creationism in the public school curriculum as a scientific theory of equal standing to biological evolutionary theory. But The Equal Classroom Time law was eradicated by decision of the Supreme Court in1987. A ruling that the teaching of creationism in science curriculum of the public school system was unconstitutional was handed down. However, after that since the 1990’s and to the present day, the location of strife has moved from the courts to local school boards and disputes related to how to handle creationism continues throughout America.
Let us check out four positions of evangelicalism regarding creationism and evolutionism:
The first position is the Six Day Creation or Young Earth theory which is called creation science. It interprets the “first day” in Genesis chapter one as a literal twenty-four hour period, that the heavens and the earth were created in one week approximately six thousand years ago, just as it is recorded in Genesis. They propose a “flood geology” which says that the geologic strata and fossils discovered in our day were formed in an extremely short time period by the Noahic flood. They also propose a theory of “the appearance of age” concerning the observation of galaxies millions of light years away (that God created these celestial objects to appear to be far away). This is a theory that has been accepted not only by American Christian fundamentalists but broadly by evangelicals. This position has the drawback of not accepting anything of evolutionary biology or of astronomical data, and does not want to dialogue with science in general.
The second position is the “Intelligent Design” (ID) theory which has recently received much attention in the United States. This is a way of thinking that says, “in the background of the diversified and detailed birth of life there was some sort of intelligent design.” This movement made its appearance after the 1987 Supreme Court ruling (where the teaching of evolution in the public schools was prohibited) to introduce in this theory into American public schools where the theory of the creation of the heavens and the earth cannot be taught (because of the relationship to the separation of church and state). However, advocates of evolution strongly warned that this was “creationism without saying ‘God’” and became the kindling for renewed debates in states where there were many conservative Christians. In August 2005 President George W. Bush, who acknowledges himself as an evangelical Christian, expressed his opinion that ID should be taught alongside evolution in schools. On December 20, 2005, the U.S. District Court ruled that the teaching of ID in public schools violated the establishment clause of the First Amendment.
The third position is the Extended Creation or Old Earth creation theory represented by astronomist Hugh Ross. This position accepts the long period of time revealed in the nature record and sees the creation of the heavens and the earth as taking place over a long interval. It acknowledges the natural process played in the development of the earth and life but that present forms of life could not have occurred without God’s supernatural intervention. There are a number of variations on this, such as the day age theory or the framework theory. It denies creation science’s “appearance of age” theory where God makes us to see untruths in history as being inconsistent with His nature. The systematic theologian, Millard Erickson, supports this third position in his Christian Theology.
The fourth position is the theistic evolutionary theory proposed from within Japan by the evangelical Christian writer, ---hiko Otani, who is an economist. This view sees scientific knowledge as something given by God under common grace, accepts evolution as fact, and that He created what is now living using the process of evolution as he maintains and rules over the universe and nature. He assesses positively evolutionary biology among the sciences and has a way of thinking which pays attention to immanence. But he gives the impression that the weak points in present-day evolutionary biology should be accepted, as is. The drawback is that there are almost no discoveries of the middle fossil record. And there is naturally also the problem of how Genesis chapters one and two are interpreted.
Publications
