Editing Creation science (section)

=== Before 1960s ===
The teaching of evolution was gradually introduced into more and more public high school textbooks in the United States after 1900,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Skoog |first=Gerald |date=October 1979 |title=Topic of Evolution in Secondary School Biology Textbooks: 1900–1977 |journal=Science Education |volume= 63 |issue=5 |pages=621–640 |doi=10.1002/sce.3730630507 |issn=1098-237X |bibcode = 1979SciEd..63..621S }}</ref> but in the aftermath of the First World War the growth of fundamentalist Christianity gave rise to a creationist opposition to such teaching. Legislation prohibiting the teaching of evolution was passed in certain regions, most notably Tennessee's [[Butler Act]] of 1925.<ref name="evc">[[#Scott 2005|Scott 2005]]</ref>

The Soviet Union's successful launch of ''[[Sputnik 1]]'' in 1957 sparked national concern that the science education in public schools was outdated. In 1958, the United States passed [[National Defense Education Act]] which introduced new education guidelines for science instruction. With federal grant funding, the [[Biological Sciences Curriculum Study]] (BSCS) drafted new standards for the public schools' science textbooks which included the teaching of evolution. Almost half the nation's high schools were using textbooks based on the guidelines of the BSCS soon after they were published in 1963.<ref>{{harvnb|Numbers|2006|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=GQ3TI5njXfIC&pg=PA265 265]}}</ref>

The Tennessee legislature did not repeal the Butler Act until 1967.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/scopes/tennstat.htm |title=Tennessee Evolution Statutes |access-date=2014-09-18}} Chapter No. 27, House Bill No. 185 (1925) and Chapter No. 237, House Bill No. 46 (1967)</ref>

Creation science (dubbed "scientific creationism" at the time) emerged as an organized movement during the 1960s.<ref>{{cite journal | author-last = Montgomery | author-first = David R. | title = The evolution of creationism | journal = GSA Today | volume = 22 | number = 11 | pages = 4–9 | doi = 10.1130/GSATG158A.1 | date = November 2012 | url = https://www.geosociety.org/gsatoday/archive/22/11/article/i1052-5173-22-11-4.htm }}</ref> It was strongly influenced by the earlier work of armchair geologist George McCready Price who wrote works such as ''Illogical Geology: The Weakest Point in the Evolution Theory'' (1906) and ''The New Geology'' (1923) to advance what he termed "new catastrophism" and dispute the current geological time frames and explanations of [[Geologic time scale|geologic history]]. Price was cited at the [[Scopes Trial]] of 1925, but his writings had no credence among geologists and other scientists.<ref>{{harvnb|Numbers|2006|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=GQ3TI5njXfIC&pg=PA88 88–119]}}</ref> Price's "new catastrophism" was also disputed by most other creationists until its revival with the 1961 publication of ''[[The Genesis Flood: The Biblical Record and Its Scientific Implications|The Genesis Flood]]'' by [[John C. Whitcomb]] and [[Henry M. Morris]], a work which quickly became an important text on the issue to fundamentalist Christians<ref name="larson" />{{page needed|date=February 2020}}<!--location 3236 kindle ed--> and expanded the field of creation science beyond critiques of geology into [[biology]] and cosmology as well. Soon after its publication, a movement was underway to have the subject taught in United States' public schools.{{citation needed|date=February 2020}}