"In the most important sense a creationist is a person who believes in creation, and that includes people who believe that Genesis is a myth and that creation involved a process called evolution and consumed billions of years"
About this Quote
The subtext is tactical. If the category of creationist expands to include theistic evolutionists and liberal believers who treat Genesis as myth, then the old fight between "science" and "religion" gets reframed as an intramural debate about meaning, purpose, and metaphysics. Johnson is quietly shifting the battleground from evidence to framing: once everyone is labeled a creationist, the question is no longer whether evolution happened, but whether evolution can ever count as a self-contained explanation. Its an attempt to make secular naturalism look like just another faith position, not the default posture of modern science.
Context matters: Johnson was a central architect of the intelligent design movement, which often advanced by arguing that Darwinism smuggles in philosophical commitments under the banner of neutrality. This line performs that same maneuver in miniature. Its less a bridge-building gesture than a rhetorical annexation, recruiting even Genesis-as-myth readers into a coalition aimed at contesting the cultural authority of evolutionary science.
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| Topic | Faith |
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Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Johnson, Phillip E. (2026, January 17). In the most important sense a creationist is a person who believes in creation, and that includes people who believe that Genesis is a myth and that creation involved a process called evolution and consumed billions of years. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/in-the-most-important-sense-a-creationist-is-a-73260/
Chicago Style
Johnson, Phillip E. "In the most important sense a creationist is a person who believes in creation, and that includes people who believe that Genesis is a myth and that creation involved a process called evolution and consumed billions of years." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/in-the-most-important-sense-a-creationist-is-a-73260/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"In the most important sense a creationist is a person who believes in creation, and that includes people who believe that Genesis is a myth and that creation involved a process called evolution and consumed billions of years." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/in-the-most-important-sense-a-creationist-is-a-73260/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.
