Evidence and Evolution

Abstract

“I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth” is oft-repeated in Christian churches. Combine a belief in the Almighty with the biblical creation narrative in which the heavens and the earth and all they contain are created in seven days and you have all the ingredients necessary for a showdown with science. God Almighty, according to this view, is the omnipotent creator of the universe; he speaks the world into instantaneous existence; on one day he says that the land should produce vegetation and, voilà, all of the plants and trees inhabit the earth; on another day he fills the waters with sea creatures and the sky with birds; on the sixth day, he populates the land with wild animals. And then, in the blink of an eye, he spoke humankind into existence. Humans, like all of the other animals, were created directly by Omnipotence. God spoke, it was done, and it was good.