Creationism is the religious belief that the universe and life originated "from specific acts of divine creation," as opposed to the scientific conclusion that they came about through natural processes. The first use of the term "creationist" to describe a proponent of creationism is found in an 1856 letter of Charles Darwin describing those who objected on religious grounds to the emerging science of evolution. In the 1920s it became associated with Christian fundamentalist movements that insisted on a literalist interpretation of the Genesis creation narrative. By the 1980s creationism had gained a significant presence in further countries and faith traditions, and in the United States the traditional constitutional separation between church and state has sometimes been challenged in an effort to permit the teaching of creationism and intelligent design in public schools. Creationists base their beliefs on a literal reading of religious texts, including the biblical Genesis creation myth and islamic mythology from the Qu'ran. For young Earth creationists, this includes a literalist interpretation of the Genesis creation narrative and the rejection of the scientific theory of evolution. Literalist creationists believe that evolution cannot adequately account for the history, diversity, and complexity of life on Earth. Pseudoscientific branches of creationism include creation science, flood geology, and intelligent design, as well as subsets of pseudoarchaeology, pseudohistory, and even pseudolinguistics.

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