The One and Only Creationism?

To millions of Americans, there is only one kind of creationism: the Biblical kind that believes everything that Mike Pence believes, including his reverence for Donald Trump.

I have begun publishing a series of articles that explore the humorous side of this kind of creationism. The series is called Creationist Funhouse, because, in order to accommodate their religion to even some of the facts of science, such as the Red Shift, these creationists have to believe that God distorted the laws of nature to make a young universe look old, and a supernaturally created world to look like it evolved. There is no point, I believe, in writing serious refutations of extreme Christian creationism: the creationists will ignore them, and everyone else (even I, who have written many) finds them boring. The first article appeared in the May/June issue of Skeptical Inquirer, and the second in the July/August issue. A few more will follow.

But this is not a problem if you consider a more general kind of creationism. That is, a creationism that does not need to accommodate a strictly literal reading of the Bible. One group of creation myths comes from Native Americans. This was brought to my attention by Scott Hunter, of Phoenix, Arizona, who emailed me about my first SI article. I have edited some of his comments here and post them with his permission:

“The students may have only heard the Jewish version unless they are Native American. I too grew up moderate Christian and knew no other creations until I began studying religions, plural.

“I have several books on Native American tribes, and they detail the extensive creation myths of the tribes. There may have been hundreds. Oklahoma tribes may have several creation myths. Indian creations are as bona fide as the Judeo-Christian myths.  I belong to most national non-believing groups plus NCSE. I continually remind others to never argue or debate Creation vs Evolution. If they do, they are playing in the Christian ballpark.  If others wish to debate or argue creation with you, I suggest that you refuse unless they agree to include the other creations existing. This gives the god fellows wobbly knees and they desist. They prefer to propagandize their own peculiar version of the creation stories.  

“The secular groups are gaining strength and time to take the wind out of that Creation fantasy. These innocent little kids have that myth almost tattooed into their brain once they enter Sunday school. Even as adults we are almost bombarded with this myth. It seems to pop up out of anywhere.

“Jewish tribal leaders not only created their own god, created their creation, but created their scriptures and laws. These tribes were minuscule and dominated by a succession of large controlling empires through most their history. There may have been dozens of other creation myths in the lands surrounding their tribal areas. Although brutally subjugated by both Christians and Muslims, Jews today would be just another nondescript nation alongside Lebanon, if the Christian faith had not picked up their scriptural stories.”

As a member of the Cherokee tribe, I can appreciate many of Scott’s comments. Most Cherokees have been Christians, more or less, since about 1800. I am not aware if any original Cherokee religion remains in circulation in the tribe. If it does, it is probably kept secret. I talked with a member of the United Keetowah Band of Cherokees recently, who does not wish to be identified. He told me two things: first, some original Cherokee creation myths; second, that the main tribal government does not want him talking to me about them.

I should have known this a long time before I finally learned it. Back in 1976, when I was an extreme creationist, our little band of creationists sponsored a debate between the two leading creationist propagandists of the day (Duane Gish and Henry Morris) vs. two scientists at the University of California at Santa Barbara (Aharon Gibor and Preston Cloud). To everyone’s astonishment, ours not the least, the debate sold out, filling the main hall at the university.

One point that Aharon Gibor made was, which version of creationism are we supposed to consider? He was not only a plant cell biologist, but an expert on Jewish theology. Indeed, he later took a faculty position in religion at the same university. He said that there was a Polynesian tribe that believed the universe was inside of a giant, invisible coconut shell. Should we believe them, or believe Gibor’s Jewish predecessors, or someone else, in choosing a “creation model”? I was addled by creationism at the time, and chose to ignore his question. But, as you can see, I remember it.

When creationists present themselves as the only alternative to atheism, they are just trying to get publicity.