Theology of creationism and evolution

v t e Different churches address the theological implications of questions raised by creationism and evolution in different ways.¹ Almost all churches teach that God created the cosmos. Most contemporary Christian leaders and scholars from many mainstream churches, such as Roman Catholic , Anglican and some Lutheran denominations , reject reading the Bible as though it could shed light on the physics of creation instead of the spiritual meaning of creation. According to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, "[for] most of the history of Christianity there's been an awareness that a belief that everything depends on the creative act of God, is quite compatible with a degree of uncertainty or latitude about how precisely that unfolds in creative time. Earlier examples of this attitude include Frederick Temple , Asa Gray and Charles Kingsley who were enthusiastic supporters of Darwin's theories on publication , and the French Jesuit priest and geologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin , saw evolution as confirmation of his Christian beliefs, despite condemnation from Church authorities for his more speculative theories. Another example is that of Liberal theology , which assumes that Genesis is a poetic work, and that just as human understanding of God increases gradually over time, so does the understanding of His creation. In fact, both Jews and Christians have been considering the idea of the creation history as an allegory (instead of an historical description) long before the development of Darwin's theory of evolution. Two notable examples are Saint Augustine (4th century) that, on theological grounds, argued that everything in the universe was created by God in the same instant, (and not in seven days as a plain account of Genesis would require) ; and the 1st century Jewish scholar Philo of Alexandria , who wrote that it would be a mistake to think that creation happened in six days, or in any set amount of time. According to Time Magazine, polls indicate that about 45% of Americans believe that "God created the world along with all creatures big and small in just six days." This substantial belief in one or another form of creationism does not translate into Americans believing that evolution should not be taught in the public schools, however. Williams 2006 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFWilliams2006 ( help ) see eg John Paul II address here [1] see eg John Polkinghorne 's Science and Theology pp6-7 Davis A. Matsurmura's determination on which churches support evolution education include the SBC based on a brief they filed in McLean v. Arkansas , where the SBC took a position Matsurmura states the SBC has since changed.²