Young Earth creationism

Young Earth creationism (YEC) is a form of creationism. Its central belief is that the Earth and the biosphere were created by various supernatural acts of the Abrahamic God between about 10,000 and 6,000 years ago, directly contradicting established scientific data that puts the age of Earth around 4.54 billion years. Events such as Noah's Flood are described as explaining much of the geological and fossil record. YEC is best described as a religious belief in the inerrancy of certain literal interpretations of the Book of Genesis. The largest young Earth creationist organizations are Answers in Genesis, Institute for Creation Research, and Creation Ministries International.

This is in contrast with old Earth creationism (OEC), which holds that literal interpretations of Genesis are compatible with the scientifically determined ages of the Earth, the universe, and theistic evolution, which posits that scientific principles of evolution, the Big Bang, abiogenesis, solar nebular theory, age of the universe, and age of Earth are compatible with a metaphorical interpretation of the Genesis creation account.

Since the mid-20th century, young Earth creationists—starting with Henry Morris (1918–2006)—developed and promoted a pseudoscientific explanation called creation science as a basis for religious belief in a supernatural, geologically recent creation, in response to scientific acceptance of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, which was developed over the previous century. Contemporary YEC movements arose, protesting the scientific consensus established by numerous scientific disciplines, which demonstrate that the age of the universe is around 13.8 billion years, the formation of the Earth and Solar System happened around 4.6 billion years ago, and the origin of life occurred roughly 4 billion years ago.

YEC remains influential in some Christian fundamentalist circles, especially in the United States, where it continues to shape debates on science education, biblical interpretation, and the relationship between faith and science. A 2017 Gallup creationism survey found 38 percent of adults in the US held a view that "God created humans in their present form at some time within the last 10,000 years or so" when asked for their views on the origin and development of human beings; Gallup noted this was the lowest in 35 years. It was suggested the support level may be lower when poll results are adjusted after comparison with other polls that have questions which more specifically account for uncertainty and ambivalence. In 2019 Gallup found, when asking a similar question, that 40 percent of US adults held a creationist view.