Evolution
Charles Darwin proposed the idea of evolution in his book 'On The Origin Of Species' in 1859. He called evolution 'descent with modification'. It is the process by which all life on earth has diversified from bacterial mats that existed over 3.6 billion years (3,600,000,000,000 years) ago. Evolution has had a long time.
For a long time it was mistakenly thought that evolution was a simple linear progression, with humankind at the top of the ladder. This old view was replaced long ago as new evidence came to light. We now understand that evolution proceeds in a kind of branching pattern, with species on one branch giving rise to other branches and so on.
Evolution proceeds as changes (mutations) occur in the genetic code of an organism. These mutations are 'tested' by the environment in which the organism exists. Many (most) of the changes will be harmful to the organism, and it will die before the harmful genes are passed on to its offspring. Occasionally, however, a gene combination will arise the actually improves the adaptation of the organism to its' particular environment and these genes are more likely to be passed on. By this process, called 'natural selection', all life has branched. (thanks to Huw Boulton Department of Geology, University of Bristol, BS8 1RJ, U.K.)
Creation
1 - The Creator God, a personal, all-powerful, loving God, created this world and everything in it during a literal six-day Creation Week.
2 - Creation Week occurred only a few thousand years ago.
3 - The Genesis Flood occurred approximately 4,300 years ago.
(thanks to pathlights)
Now, certainly there are other religious standpoints in this matter, but to keep it simple, creationism will just refer to any sort of divine creation.
Okay, on to the third and final introductory article. This is one that discusses both sides and introduces a third opinion.
How did life begin on Earth? More intellectual and literal blood has been shed and spilled attempting to answer this question than any other in any aspect of science or religion. Why? Because the answer, if it could be determined beyond doubt, would reveal to us the deepest meanings behind ourselves and all that we see around us. More importantly, it would demolish once and for all the thorny tangle of conscious and unconscious thought and belief that causes most of the bloodshed.
At present there are only two socially acceptable explanations for how life has come to be on Earth. Science insists it has developed by entirely natural means, using only the materials at hand on the early planet, with no help from any outside source, whether that source be divine or extraterrestrial. Religion insists with equal fervor that life was brought into existence whole and complete by a divine Creator called by different names by the world's various sects. Between these two diametrically opposed viewpoints there is no overlap, no common ground where negotiation might be undertaken. Each considers its own position to be totally correct and the other totally wrong, a certainty bolstered by the fact that each can blow gaping holes in the logic/dogma of the other.
Science is quick to point to the overwhelming technical proofs that life could not, and indeed did not, appear whole and complete within the restricted time frame outlined in the Biblical account. Of course, people of faith are immune to arguments based on fact or logic. Faith requires that they accept the Biblical account no matter how dissonant it might be with reality. Besides, they can show that not a shred of tangible evidence exists to support the notion that any species can transmute itself into another species given enough time and enough positive genetic mutations, which is the bedrock of Charles Darwin�s theory of incremental evolution, or "gradualism."
