I.

Introduction

Creationism, broad range of beliefs involving an appeal to God's miraculous intervention to explain the origin of the universe, of life, and of the different kinds of plants and animals on earth. Adherents, called creationists, all invoke divine intervention to explain at least some of these phenomena, although they do not necessarily agree on the length of time involved in creation. In the second half of the 20th century, the most visible and politically active creationists maintained that the entire universe was created within the past 6000 to 10,000 years.