The terms creationism and creationist are often used to distinguish those who do not accept naturalism as a valid explanation for how the universe and life came to be. However, creationism (specifically, young-earth creationism) entails a wide range of fields, including geology, biology, astronomy, physics, theology, etc., and is not a scientific or theological discipline in and of itself. Instead, it is a biblically based framework through which all data are interpreted.

Contrary to popular belief, science is not naturalism (the belief that life and the universe were not created, but came about by non-teleological processes). In fact, many of the earliest Western scientists were creationists and relied upon their belief in God and the Bible to aid their research, and many creationist scientists today successfully experiment and make important discoveries (e.g., the MRI).

Science is a tool that is used to discover data about the universe. While science can uncover much about how the universe works in the present, neither science nor the data uncovered through the scientific method can independently provide knowledge about the past. Instead, science concerned with origins and past events (historical science) depends upon the researcher’s existing beliefs and framework.

Creationists base all of their research and conclusions upon the biblical record. In other words, nothing in science (or any field) makes sense except in light of God’s Word. Where the Bible does not give specifics, creationists form hypotheses and models that accord with what the Bible teaches about the world and test these hypotheses against present data. Thus, hypotheses can be discarded, but the biblical record is not. Although this is often a point of derision, evolutionists rely upon the same methodology: that is, while hypotheses are discarded, the belief in evolution is never questioned.