Editing Creation science (section)

===Religious criticism===
Many mainstream Christian churches<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.presbyterianmission.org/ministries/theologyandworship/evolution/|title=Mission statement of Presbyterian Church|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150115050927/http://www.presbyterianmission.org/ministries/theologyandworship/evolution/|archive-date=2015-01-15}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.umc.org/what-we-believe/what-is-the-united-methodist-churchs-position-on-evolution|title=view from methodist Church|access-date=2015-01-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160513181222/http://www.umc.org/what-we-believe/what-is-the-united-methodist-churchs-position-on-evolution|archive-date=2016-05-13|url-status=dead}}</ref> criticize creation science on theological grounds, asserting either that religious faith alone should be a sufficient basis for belief in the truth of creation, or that efforts to prove the Genesis account of creation on scientific grounds are inherently futile because reason is subordinate to faith and cannot thus be used to prove it.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Systems View of Life: A Unifying Vision|last=Capra|first=Fritjof|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2014|isbn=978-1316616437|location=New York}}</ref>

Many [[Christian theology|Christian theologies]], including [[Liberal Christianity]], consider the [[Genesis creation narrative]] to be a poetic and [[allegory|allegorical]] work rather than a literal history, and many Christian churches—including the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]], the [[Roman Catholic]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ncse.com/media/voices/roman-catholic-church-1996 |title=Roman Catholic Church (1996) |date=October 22, 1996 |location=Berkeley, CA |publisher=National Center for Science Education |access-date=2014-09-18}} Message to [[Pontifical Academy of Sciences]].</ref> [[Anglicanism|Anglican]] and the more liberal denominations of the [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]], [[Methodism|Methodist]], [[Congregational church|Congregationalist]] and [[Presbyterianism|Presbyterian]] faiths—have either rejected creation science outright or are ambivalent to it. Belief in non-literal interpretations of Genesis is often cited as going back to [[Augustine of Hippo|Saint Augustine]].

[[Theistic evolution]] and evolutionary creationism are theologies that reconcile belief in a creator with biological evolution. Each holds the view that there is a creator but that this creator has employed the natural force of evolution to unfold a divine plan.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Scott |first=Eugenie C. |author-link=Eugenie Scott |date=July–August 1999 |title=The Creation/Evolution Continuum |url=http://ncse.com/creationism/general/creationevolution-continuum |journal=Reports of the National Center for Science Education |volume=19 |issue=4 |pages=16–17, 23–25 |issn=2158-818X |access-date=2009-01-28}}</ref> Religious representatives from faiths compatible with theistic evolution and evolutionary creationism have challenged the growing perception that belief in a creator is inconsistent with the acceptance of evolutionary theory.<ref>{{cite press release |last=Resseger |first=Jan |date=March 27, 2006 |title=NCC releases a faith perspective on teaching evolution in public school |url=http://www.ncccusa.org/news/060330evolution.html |location=New York |publisher=[[National Council of Churches|National Council of Churches USA]] |access-date=2014-09-18}}</ref><ref name="vatican">{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Vatican, ally defend legitimacy of evolution |url=https://prev.dailyherald.com/story/?id=235372 |newspaper=[[Daily Herald (Arlington Heights)|Daily Herald]] |location=Arlington Heights, IL |date=September 16, 2008 |agency=[[Associated Press]] |access-date=2009-01-28 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141222053814/https://prev.dailyherald.com/story/?id=235372 |archive-date=December 22, 2014 }}</ref> Spokespersons from the Catholic Church have specifically criticized biblical creationism for relying upon literal interpretations of biblical scripture as the basis for determining scientific fact.<ref name="vatican" />