# What are the motivations behind Creationism? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 18, 2016, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-motivations-behind-creationism/752566 "2016-04-18T16:32:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2016, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-motivations-behind-creationism/752566/41 "2016-04-20T16:08:05Z")
Here is a flip side way of looking at it. You want to believe the Bible is the word of God and all these good things will happen to good people and this document tells you what you need to do. Lets face it, that sure is a heck of lot more comforting to many people than “who knows WTF is going on” or “you die, thats it, non of shit matters anyway”. But most of the Bible contains rules and old stories and punishment that do nothing to either prove or disprove it being a sacred document. But wait, if you can read into something(s) in the Bible that have to do with the real world here and now, you are onto something. Now, twist or misunderstand some facts about the real world so they and Bible agree you’ve really accomplished something. You’ve shown that the Bible says some important thing X. And you’ve “shown” that X is true. Well, that just shows what you wanted. The Bible is the real deal. Or in other words, for many people, I don’t think they believe in creationism and related stuff because the Bible “says” so. I think they look to find reasons to believe in creationism to give credibility to the Bible. Now, most of this is probably more of a subconsious process for most people, but I can certainly see the “logic” and motivation for such thinking. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2016, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-motivations-behind-creationism/752566/42 "2016-04-20T16:51:53Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > The general belief in the existence of God is unfalsifiable. So is the belief that the universe is a simulation. Very few go to the church of general belief. Once you get beyond deism, many definitions of God are falsifiable, at least beyond reasonable doubt. Bi and tri-omni deities are logically inconsistent, for example. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2016, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-motivations-behind-creationism/752566/43 "2016-04-20T17:25:31Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > The desire to believe that life has an easy to understand plan and that a loving creator is watching out for us. That doesn’t explain Creationism specifically, though. Most believers in the Judeo-Christian tradition would agree that God loves us and has a plan for us; but a minority of those believe in a 7-day, 6,000-year old creation. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2016, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-motivations-behind-creationism/752566/44 "2016-04-20T17:40:15Z")
> [@Me\_Billy](#): > > It is because we are “born” and that is what they know about and base everything else on. > > …\… > > Also people can’t comprehend that we simply do not exist anymore after death. How is that so different than not existing before birth (conception)? ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2016, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-motivations-behind-creationism/752566/45 "2016-04-20T18:26:28Z")
People find it comforting that there’s someone out there watching over them and taking care of them, righting the wrongs if not in this world then in the next one. To reach that level of comfort, some people will believe anything ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2016, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-motivations-behind-creationism/752566/46 "2016-04-20T20:29:31Z")
> [@YogSothoth](#): > > People find it comforting that there’s someone out there watching over them and taking care of them, righting the wrongs if not in this world then in the next one. To reach that level of comfort, some people will believe anything Again, that may be why people embrace religion in general, but it’s unrelated to creationism specifically. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2016, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-motivations-behind-creationism/752566/47 "2016-04-20T21:07:35Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > I attended a Creation vs. Evolution debate a long time ago, I think when I was in college. Most of the audience, of course, were creationists. And the guy who was debating the creationist side basically said, “This is what the Bible says: God created the world in seven days. If the Bible is wrong about that, it could be wrong about ANYTHING! Why would we trust anything it says? We might as well toss it out. So if you have any reason to believe the Bible is right about Jesus Christ, you HAVE TO believe in a literal seven day creation!” > > That reasoning seemed - faulty - to me at the time. As I’ve matured as a Christian in the decades since, my response to that argument has gone from being dubious, to anger, to contempt. Few doctrines make Christians look as silly as biblical literalism. In what way(s) do the better crop of Christians handle the concerns which motivate creationists to adopt their position? What motivated the switch from dubious to anger and then to contempt? ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2016, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-motivations-behind-creationism/752566/48 "2016-04-20T22:15:13Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > Again, that may be why people embrace religion in general, but it’s unrelated to creationism specifically. Its just an extension of religious belief. First you believe in something, then your belief turns into religion, then the religion says something crazy that you are still forced to believe in. I really think that its all degrees of belief on the same spectrum. Creationism isn’t different in that it requires a different reason or form of belief. Its just the consequence of a religion you’re invested in saying something else. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2016, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-motivations-behind-creationism/752566/49 "2016-04-21T00:47:31Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > The Earth is about 4.6B years old. You added an extra digit in front! The inevitability of Gaudere’s Law! You corrected the number, but left out the “billion.” ---
**Author:** ![spamforbrains](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@spamforbrains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spamforbrains)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2016, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-motivations-behind-creationism/752566/50 "2016-04-21T01:14:17Z")
> [@](#): > > “The argument here is that people get deeply attached to their beliefs,” Hoffman says. > … > “They wanted to believe in the link,” he says, "because it helped them make sense of a current reality. Not on creationism per se, but about people firmly believing things that are clearly untrue. > **[Study Demonstrates How We Support Our False Beliefs](https://phys.org/news/2009-08-false-beliefs.html)** > > (PhysOrg.com) -- In a study published in the most recent issue of the journal Sociological Inquiry, sociologists from four major research institutions focus on one of the most curious aspects of the 2004 presidential election: the strength and... ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2016, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-motivations-behind-creationism/752566/51 "2016-04-21T01:21:46Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > The inevitability of Gaudere’s Law! You corrected the number, but left out the “billion.” It gets worse. You missed the B he put in there 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2016, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-motivations-behind-creationism/752566/52 "2016-04-21T01:24:03Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > The Earth is about 4.6B years old. You added an extra digit in front! The Devil _put_ that digit there to deceive us! ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2016, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-motivations-behind-creationism/752566/53 "2016-04-21T02:16:00Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > How is that so different than not existing before birth (conception)? Not existing, **once you have experienced existence** , can be as terrifying as eternal torment. It hits the “was this all _for nothing_?” button. Some sets of religious belief (e.g. Jehovah’s Witnesses IIRC) go right there and hold that the wicked are _not_ to be sent to eternal torment but will be simply annihilated. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2016, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-motivations-behind-creationism/752566/54 "2016-04-21T02:27:40Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Except that they do pick and choose what to believe and what to ignore. No one argues it’s an abomination to wear clothing made from from two different fabrics, nor do they argue that pi equals three. Actually, I don’t wear certain combinations of fabrics, because the Torah says not to. But I am Jewish, and I don’t think this law applies to anyone not Jewish. Also, there is no law or commandment to believe that the story of creation is absolute fact. You are free to accept it as allegory, or myth. As long as we can study it and learn something from it, particularly about either the nature of G-d, or something we can apply to living our lives in a way that makes us better people, then the story has value. Personally, I think the story goes a long way to explaining why people have free will, and therefore evil must exist-- it’s tl;dr, though-- if you want to know, PM me, and I look for my notes. I led a Torah study on it years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2016, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-motivations-behind-creationism/752566/55 "2016-04-21T02:33:54Z")
As well as all the points raised so far, I think it’s worth pointing out that evolution is somewhat counter-intuitive if you don’t think about it, or try to learn about it at all. Which someone motivated to reject evolution is of course never going to do. Even the fact “humans are animals” is difficult for some people to accept when by many of the criteria by which humans evaluate other humans: ability to communicate ideas, learn etc, animals seem separate to us (yes physiologically the similarities are very obvious but like I say humans are inclined to focus on mental attributes). Let alone wrapping one’s mind around hundreds of millions of years of gradual change. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-motivations-behind-creationism/752566.md?page=2)