Creation Science Movement facts for kids
The Creation Science Movement (CSM) is a British group that believes the world was created by God, as described in the Bible. It was started in 1932 and was first called the Evolution Protest Movement. The CSM says it is the oldest creationist group in the world. It used to be part of the Evangelical Alliance but left in 2008. It is also a registered charity, which means it works for good causes and doesn't make a profit.
Contents
How the Movement Started
The Evolution Protest Movement (EPM) grew from an older group called the Victoria Institute. This institute wanted to protect "great truths" from what they saw as wrong science. Even though the Victoria Institute didn't officially oppose evolution, many scientists who doubted Darwinism joined it.
By the 1910s, the Victoria Institute had become much smaller. A well-known creationist from Canada, George McCready Price, visited London between 1924 and 1928. He saw that British creationists were spread out and not working together. He asked them to unite.
Forming the Evolution Protest Movement
In 1932, a former submariner and journalist named Bernard Acworth suggested starting a group against evolution. He wanted the group to focus on science, not just religion. A lawyer and bird expert, Douglas Dewar, supported this idea.
The Evolution Protest Movement was officially formed at a meeting with Acworth, Dewar, and five other religious people. John Ambrose Fleming, an electrical engineer and physicist, became the president. Acworth was the chairman, and Dewar was the secretary-treasurer.
The EPM became public in February 1935 at a large meeting with over six hundred people. In its early years, Dewar was very active. He wrote a booklet called Man: A Special Creation and gave many talks. He also debated with people who supported evolution.
In the late 1930s, Dewar did not agree with American creationists who believed in flood geology. This idea says that Earth's geology was shaped by a worldwide flood, like the one described in the Bible. Dewar worked with the EPM for 25 years. During this time, the group grew to about 200 members. It even had small branches in Australia and New Zealand.
Changes Over Time
In the mid-1950s, a school teacher and pastor named Albert G. Tilney took control of the EPM. He ran the group very strictly. He strongly promoted Gap creationism, which suggests there was a long period of time between the first two verses of the Bible's Genesis story. This made the group less active. Many important creationists did not want to work with him.
In the 1970s, a book called The Genesis Flood was published in English. This book supported flood geology. Because the EPM under Tilney did not accept flood geology, new creationist groups started. These included the Newton Scientific Association and the Biblical Creation Society.
Over time, the EPM slowly began to accept flood geology. Many young Earth creationists (YEC) joined the group's council. Young Earth creationists believe that the Earth is only a few thousand years old. These new members changed the group's direction away from Tilney's ideas.
In 1980, the EPM was renamed the Creation Science Movement. By the mid-1980s, it was mostly made up of Young Earth creationists. They officially included flood geology in their rules. They also said that Gap creationism and Day-Age Creationism were not based on the Bible. Day-Age Creationism suggests that each "day" in the Genesis creation story was actually a long period of time.
By the early 1990s, the CSM had closed its branches in other countries. However, its membership in the UK grew a lot.
Current Leadership
The current chairman of the CSM is Dr. David Rosevear. He has a Ph.D. in organometallic chemistry from the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom. He used to be a senior teacher of chemistry at Portsmouth University. Dr. Rosevear is a Young Earth creationist. When he was interviewed by the British Broadcasting Corporation, he said that people are brainwashed by the media into believing in evolution.
The Genesis Expo
The CSM has a special exhibition called the Genesis Expo. It is located in an old bank building on Portsmouth Harbour.
The expo has 12 displays that show different scenes. It also has real fossilized dinosaur eggs. One of the displays shows a fake gravestone with "Here lies the Theory of Evolution" carved on it.
See also
In Spanish: Movimiento de la Ciencia de la Creación para niños
