The Age of the Earth: Creation vs. Evolution
1. Introduction
The age of the earth has been an issue of controversy from the creation point of view to evolution. It is estimated that the earth is about 4.54 billion years old. The age of the earth impacts education since it is still being taught in schools that the earth is only 6000 years old. This essay will explore the age of the earth from both creation and evolutionary perspectives and discuss the impact it has on education.
2. The age of the earth from the creation perspective
From a creationist perspective, the earth is only 6000 years old because that is how long ago God created it. This perspective is based on the Bible which says that God created heaven and earth in six days and rested on the seventh day (Genesis 1:1-2:3). Young Earth creationism (YEC) is the belief that the universe, earth, and all life on it were created by God in their present form within the last 10,000 years (“What is Young Earth Creationism?”, n.d.). YECs believe that Noah’s flood was responsible for most of the geological features we see on earth today. They also believe that dinosaurs lived at the same time as humans and that they were on Noah’s Ark (Ham, n.d.).
There are several arguments that YECs use to support their beliefs such as:
-The Bible is true and should be interpreted literally
-There is no scientific evidence for an oldearth
-The second law of thermodynamics disproves evolution
-Radioactive decay rates have been constant throughout history
-The speed of light has always been constant
-Humans have always existed in their present form
3. The age of the earth from the evolutionary perspective
The age of the earth from an evolutionary perspective is estimated to be around 4.54 billion years old. This estimate comes from radiometric dating which is a method used to date rocks based on the known decay rates of radioactive elements (“How Old is Earth?”, n.d.). The three main types of radiometric dating are uranium-lead, potassium-argon, and rubidium-strontium dating (Ward & Schmidtmann, 1992). Scientists have also used relative dating methods to estimate the age of rocks and fossils. Relative dating is a method used to determine the order in which events occurred without knowing specifically when they occurred (“Dating Rocks and Fossils Using Geologic Methods”, 2015).
4. The impact of the age of the earth on education
The age of the earth impacts education since it is still being taught in schools that the earth is only 6000 years old. This is due to religious indoctrination masquerading as science. In 2006, a study done by Ecklund showed that religious indoctrination in public schools was widespread with 60% of biology teachers teaching creationism or intelligent design alongside evolution (Ecklund, 2006). This indoctrinates students into thinking that evolution is just a theory with no evidence to support it and that creationism/intelligent design are valid scientific theories even though there is no evidence to support them. In reality, there is an overwhelming amount of evidence to support evolution and none to support creationism/intelligent design.
The age of the earth also impacts education because it is used as evidence for evolution. The fact that the earth is billions of years old gives evolutionary processes plenty of time to occur. If the earth was only 6000 years old, as YECs believe, then there would not be enough time for evolution to occur. This would mean that all species on earth would still look the same as they did when they were created. The fact that there is such a huge diversity of life on earth is proof that evolution has occurred over a long period of time.
5. Conclusion
The age of the earth is a controversial issue that has been debated by Creationists and Evolutionists for many years. The age of the earth impacts education because it is still being taught in schools that the earth is only 6000 years old. This is due to religious indoctrination masquerading as science. In reality, there is an overwhelming amount of evidence to support evolution and none to support creationism/intelligent design. The age of the earth also impacts education because it is used as evidence for evolution. The fact that the earth is billions of years old gives evolutionary processes plenty of time to occur. If the earth was only 6000 years old, as YECs believe, then there would not be enough time for evolution to occur. This would mean that all species on earth would still look the same as they did when they were created. The fact that there is such a huge diversity of life on earth is proof that evolution has occurred over a long period of time.