Creationism - National Center for Science Education

Pentecostalists typically affirm belief in the “fundamentals,” and in much the
same doctrine as strict “Bible only” fundamentalists, and seem willing to be classified
with fundamentalists. Fundamentalists do not reciprocate this to the same extent,
however, and tend to be suspicious of Pentecostalists as infected with wild (even demoninspired)
extra-biblical beliefs. As Marsden puts it (1980:94):
Despite close resemblances of Pentecostals to “fundamentalists,” Pentecostals were only tangentially part
of the fundamentalism of the 1920s. Pentecostals often identified themselves as “fundamentalists,” read
fundamentalist literature, and adopted anti-Modernist and anti-evolution rhetoric; yet other fundamentalists
seldom welcomed them as allies or called them into their councils. The influence, then, was largely in only
one direction, from fundamentalism to pentecostalism.
Some Pentecostalists are relatively unconcerned with evolution, or give lip
service to anti-evolutionism without much commitment. Others, such as Swaggart, are
fiercely anti-evolutionist. Aimee Semple McPherson, the celebrated preacher of the
1920s, campaigned ruthlessly against evolution from her Angelus Temple in Los
Angeles. Even the most dedicated Pentecostalist creationists (such as Swaggart),
however, tend to be old-earthers. In general, fundamentalists in the narrower sense of the
term tend to be more uniformly committed to strict creationism.
Fundamentalism, as noted earlier, is a trans-denominational phenomenon. There
are relatively few wholly “fundamentalist” denominations, though there are strong
fundamentalist wings in many other denominations. Similarly, few denominations are
officially anti-evolutionist, though creationism is a strong element among members of
many different denominations. None of the mainline denominations opposes evolution:
all either espouse it openly or have at least come to terms with it. (This fact has often
been pointed out by anti-creationists, but it deserves to be more widely known.)
Also already noted is the tension between strict fundamentalism and
Pentecostalism, and also evangelicalism, though these are all closely related (and
overlapping) conservative Protestant movements. Fundamentalists consider some of the
denominations and sects which are most opposed to evolution to be cults, adding
confusion to the “creationist” movement. The Jehovah’s Witnesses, Armstrong’s
Worldwide Church of God, and the Mormons are all considered heretical cults (van
Baalen 1938, Larson 1982, Martin 1985). Some fundamentalists classify Seventh-day
Adeventists as a cult also, primarily because they hold Ellen G. White’s writings to be
divinely inspired (e.g. Hoekema’s The Four Major Cults), but other fundamentalists
consider them marginally orthodox (e.g. fundamentalist cult expert Walter Martin),
noting their acceptance of many fundamentalist doctrines, and in particular their strong
insistence on literal creation and the the Flood.
Of the denominations which oppose evolution, the Seventh-day Adventists have
been perhaps the most consistent foes of evolution. Adventess prophetess Ellen G. White
opposed evolution relentlessly, and advocated strict, young-earth creationism and a
worldwide catastrophic Flood as the shaper of Earth’s geology (White 1958, 1986).
George McCready Price, inspired by White, reinvented the “science” of Flood Geology
and campaigned for strict creationism throughout the first half of this century. Seventhday
Adventists have produced an inordinate share of the creationists literature, though
there are not many more than half a million in this country. Among them, besides Price:
E.J. Waggoner (1894), Alonzo Baker and Francis Nichol (1926), Lucas Reed (1919),
Harold W. Clark (1929, 1940, 1946, 1947), Cyril and Donovan Courville (1941, 1971),