How can a qualified geologist also believe in Biblical creation?
The answer might surprise you.
I might be the only person actually qualified to answer this question, so allow me to try to explain. Not only am I a geologist, but I was also a creationist when I began my studies. Moreover, I know several geologists who are currently creationists. The answer might surprise you. And no, the answer is not “because creationism explains things better.”
I started studying geology in the late 90s at Michigan Tech, a fantastic school for that (formerly a mining school). I’ve always had a passion for volcanology- the study of volcanoes. I was also a fundamentalist Christian and a creationist. I ran a, by the standards of the 90s/early 00s, very successful creationist website. If you search my name on Google, you can probably find a few of the poorly informed articles I wrote that have been pirated without my permission and used by other creationist sites.
I struggled through years of education with my creationist beliefs. Before I began studying, I thought creationism was the most obvious explanation. As I learned, I rationalized that the modern scientific explanations were also perfectly fine, but that creationism was also a very good explanation. This rationalization- that either was fine and that I chose to believe the latter- continued until I graduated. At some point soon thereafter, I finally took a step back and asked myself why I was still clinging to creationism. The modern scientific explanations weren’t just satisfactory- they were excellent. My creationism, on the other hand, required me to jump through so many hoops and over so many hurdles to avoid admitting it was silly. I had to ask myself why I was still grasping at something that I’d already known for a long time was false.
It was a tough moment- I had to totally reevaluate my faith. I had based my faith on the inerrant and infallible Bible, every word of which was perfect. I got through it, though, and it made me a much more thoughtful Christian. I left my site on the internet for a while, assuming it would kind of disappear somehow. Two years later, the friend of a friend who worked for the BBC stayed in my house and asked to interview me as the only creationist geologist she could find. I declined and took the site down immediately.
Not all Christian geologists make it through that transition/realization, though. I knew two working on their master's degrees at the University at Buffalo while I was there several years later. They’re wonderful people and married to each other now. They were, and as far as I know, still are creationists. They currently work for colleges in Texas, one of whom is a lecturer of geology- and before anyone freaks out about that, they do not teach creationism in class. They are professionals and acknowledge they aren’t teaching religion, they’re teaching science and have no qualms about that.
A lot of people knew about their views, though it wasn’t talked about much, and it was kind of a source of wonderment. It’s kind of like an electrical engineer who doesn’t believe in electricity. I asked them how they could remain creationists at this point given that they were fantastic geologists and very smart people. I wasn’t a dick about it since I understood where they were coming from better than most. Their answer was succinct and surprisingly good and summarized as follows:
“I know what science and all of the research says. I’ve seen it all, I’ve looked at it all, and I’ve produced some of those results myself. I’m aware. But the Bible says something else and I choose to believe that. It’s not a matter of proof, it’s a matter of faith.”
It was an interesting answer. It’s a bit like looking at a blue sky and seeing it every day but choosing to believe something totally different because someone wrote it in a book they respect.
And that’s how an intelligent and qualified geologist can be a creationist. They are vanishingly rare because of the mental gymnastics required, but it means understanding all of the science and still choosing to believe otherwise based purely upon faith. It seems to require intelligence, but also a fear of acknowledging that the foundations of your faith are shakier than you’d like to believe.
The honest ones- the ones with integrity- keep this faith to themselves. The really shady ones disingenuously try to push their views using explanations they know to be wrong- explanations that will sound good to someone without as much education as themselves. Hell, I kept my website up for several years after I knew it was garbage and it kept getting visitors. I won’t pretend to be innocent in all of that. But that’s the how and why of it all.
This deceitfulness of those who preach the “science” of creationism is why I can’t stand the charlatans from groups like Answers in Genesis. The very few qualified geologists associated with them know better academically. They rationalize what they’re doing to themselves just fine though: they’re lying for God.
