Creationism in Science
In very simplistic laymen's terms, there was a massive explosion some 16 million years ago, which released energy that eventually formed into matter. This matter clogged into each other, which formed galaxies, and within these galaxies, stars were formed from hydrogen atom energy. Then nuclear fushion created heavier materials, which were able to create other matters including carbon and oxygen. This created the conditions necessary for life to form. The heavier matters then eventually formed into gas and ice in space, which, according to the laws and physics, created enough matter to start a life.
Of course, there are other steps involved in the creation of universe, such as echoes of cosmic microwave background, inflation of matter, and the existence of antimatter. But what is important at this stage is that science claims that everything was created by chance. This claim is a direct challenge against creationism in the eyes of most popular religions, such as Christianity and Islam.
Creationism in Religion
The Genesis describes how the universe was created. In the beginning, God said, "Let there be light," and there it was. Some of the important excerpts that I think from the Bible are:
Genesis:
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (1:1). In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (1:2). Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light (1:3). God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness (1:4). God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day (1:5). God called the expanse heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day (1:8). Then God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years (1:14); God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also (1:16). Then God said, "Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens." (1:20) God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good (1:21). Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind"; and it was so (1:24).
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I always believed that the accounts written in the Bible and the scientific accounts can be complimentary. For instance, God said, "Let there be light," and there was the Big Bang. However, one of the students pointed out in the discussion that God first created the flying creatures, but fossil records clearly indicate that the flying creatures were not the first to exist. From memory, I think it was the sea life that began first, which destroys my point that Genesis and Big Bang can coexists.
Something else that was mentioned in the discussion which I found quite interesting is that God did not create the solar system and the stars until the 4th day, which meant that, even though the previous verses speak of light and day, the 24 hour system as we know it could not have existed until the 4th day. This could mean that the days mentioned in Genesis chapter 1 are metaphorical, and it took Him more than just 24 hours to create the things He created. Perhaps, prior to the creation of solar system, one day represented a million years. This is only a musing speculation, but nowadays, not many people take Genesis literally anyway.
Being a non-religious person, and with little knowledge of creationism from other religion's perspective, I think the theory of Big Bang holds true for me. But then again, does it really matter? When it comes to discussing the beginning of the universe, it is an important subject, but I hardly consider the topic during my normal everyday hours.
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