Time dilation creationism: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|Pseudoscientifc attempt to reconcile young Earth creationism with the starlight problem}}

'''Time dilation creationism''' <!--Definitely a pseudoscience; and that's supposed to be explicitly said in the lead per Wikipedia policy but I'm too lazy to find a source--> is a form of [[young Earth creationism]] that attempts to harmonize the literal interpretation of the [[Genesis creation narrative]] with the existence of distant galaxies. The theory proposes that the universe experienced a rapid passage of time, while the [[Earth]] itself experienced six literal days, because of [[time dilation]]. It is asserted that the time dilation mainly happened on the fourth day of creation.<ref>{{Cite web |title=New time dilation helps creation cosmology - creation.com |url=https://creation.com/new-time-dilation-helps-creation-cosmology |access-date=2022-04-27 |website=creation.com |language=en-gb}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |date=2018 |title=A Solution for the Distant Starlight Problem Using Creation Time Coordinates |url=https://digitalcommons.cedarville.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1017&context=icc_proceedings |journal=Proceedings of the International Conference on Creationism}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Time Dilation Cosmological Models |url=https://answersresearchjournal.org/time-dilation-cosmological-models/ |access-date=2022-04-27 |website=answersresearchjournal.org |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=McCain |first1=Kevin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wlAPEAAAQBAJ&dq=Time+dilation+young+earth+creation&pg=PA108 |title=What is Scientific Knowledge?: An Introduction to Contemporary Epistemology of Science |last2=Kampourakis |first2=Kostas |date=2019-06-11 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-351-33661-1 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Ham |first1=Ken |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GWzaBAAAQBAJ&dq=Time+dilation+creationism&pg=PA150 |title=Inside the Nye Ham Debate: Revealing Truths from the Worldview Clash of the Century |last2=Hodge |first2=Bodie |date=2014-10-25 |publisher=New Leaf Publishing Group |isbn=978-1-61458-424-7 |language=en}}</ref>

Because of the [[Starlight problem|problem of the distance of starlight]], time dilation has been used by some young Earth creationists to explain how starlight from the edge of the universe, around 13 billion light years away could travel to the Earth in less than 7000 years. Thus it has been proposed that on the fourth day of creation, there was a type of time dilation which allowed the light to travel to the Earth from the edge of the universe.<ref>{{Cite book |last=O’Briant |first=Stanley J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RUEDCgAAQBAJ&dq=Time+dilation+genesis+creation&pg=PT256 |title=A Christian Student'S Guide to Truth in Science |date=2015-03-13 |publisher=WestBow Press |isbn=978-1-4908-6575-1 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> However, some young Earth creationist organizations such as [[Answers in Genesis]] have said that the theory has "fatal problems".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Distant Starlight and Genesis: Conventions of Time Measurement |url=https://answersingenesis.org/astronomy/starlight/distant-starlight-and-genesis-conventions-of-time-measurement/ |access-date=2022-04-27 |website=Answers in Genesis |language=en}}</ref> It has also been criticized for being "strained exegesis".<ref name=":0" />