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Not sure about other belief systems, but most scientists who are Christian at least would consider your question to be a ‘category error’. Science is generally

Not sure about other belief systems, but most scientists who are Christian at least would consider your question to be a ‘category error’. Science is generally limited to explaining questions of ‘how’ things happen, while the belief in a creating/sustaining God is believed to be explaining questions of ‘why’. Professor of Mathematics and Christian John Lennox had a fairly good quote saying that he doesn’t believe as a “God of the gaps” but a “God of the whole thing”, in that a Christian doesn’t believe that science being able to explain mechanisms diminishes God in any way, because if a God is in control/sustaining the universe then pretty much everything that science explains can be simultaneously brought about by God. The whole young earth thing is strangely popular in America but not really strongly held in general mainstream Christianity or (I believe) in mainstream Judaism. There is plenty of scholarship going back thousands of years (back to Augustine circa 4th century AD, or even Phillo of Alexandria in 1st C) who believed that the author of Genesis didn’t intend the first few chapters to be read as attesting literal time periods or mechanisms but convey theological truths about God and humanity. So while fundie YEC people would probably have a problem with this finding, generally mainstream believers and Christian scientists have no problem with this as just being a step in a process that God causes to occur to intentionally bring about life including humans.

elboru 8y ago
Thank you I think you explained it really well. >The whole young earth thing is strangely popular in America but not really strongly held in general mainstream Christianity or (I believe) in mainstream Judaism. I’m not American, so it has always been weird to me how the early earth thing is widely associated with Christianity, I mean, I have no doubt there must be people really believing on it. But from a non American and non Protestant Christian point of view it is just weird. But my guess is that it must be associated with “Sola Scriptura” and the free and individual interpretation of the Bible some Protestants believe in.
- sofal 8y ago
  I don't understand why it is weird to believe in a young Earth, but it is not weird to believe that a god literally became a blood sacrifice to himself in order to save us from his wrath or any of the other stories from the Bible that modern theologians still consider literal, undeniable truth.
  - elboru 8y ago
    I guess I was not clear in my point. It's weird to me that the young Earth is widely associated with Christianity, not that some believe is weird or not by itself. Also I never said Christianity is not weird, at least not from a non mystical point of view. Chesterton mentions it: "Now the first thing to note is that if we take it merely as a human story, it is in some ways a very strange story... ...Relatively speaking, it is the Gospel that has the mysticism and the Church that has the rationalism. As I should put it, of course, it is the Gospel that is the riddle and the Church that is the answer. But whatever be the answer, the Gospel as it stands is almost a book of riddles..." I really recommend reading The Everlasting Man from Chesterton, if you are interested on understanding (not trying to change your beliefs or anything, you can read it just to get a better understanding of Christians beliefs).

elboru 8y ago

Thank you I think you explained it really well. >The whole young earth thing is strangely popular in America but not really strongly held in general mainstream Christianity or (I believe) in mainstream Judaism. I’m not American, so it has always been weird to me how the early earth thing is widely associated with Christianity, I mean, I have no doubt there must be people really believing on it. But from a non American and non Protestant Christian point of view it is just weird. But my guess is that it must be associated with “Sola Scriptura” and the free and individual interpretation of the Bible some Protestants believe in.

sofal 8y ago
I don't understand why it is weird to believe in a young Earth, but it is not weird to believe that a god literally became a blood sacrifice to himself in order to save us from his wrath or any of the other stories from the Bible that modern theologians still consider literal, undeniable truth.
- elboru 8y ago
  I guess I was not clear in my point. It's weird to me that the young Earth is widely associated with Christianity, not that some believe is weird or not by itself. Also I never said Christianity is not weird, at least not from a non mystical point of view. Chesterton mentions it: "Now the first thing to note is that if we take it merely as a human story, it is in some ways a very strange story... ...Relatively speaking, it is the Gospel that has the mysticism and the Church that has the rationalism. As I should put it, of course, it is the Gospel that is the riddle and the Church that is the answer. But whatever be the answer, the Gospel as it stands is almost a book of riddles..." I really recommend reading The Everlasting Man from Chesterton, if you are interested on understanding (not trying to change your beliefs or anything, you can read it just to get a better understanding of Christians beliefs).