Critics of discussing creationism in public schools in America, as well as in Australia, often retort that it should not be taught due to separation of Church and State concerns. They add, if the Judeo-Christian creation position is taught, then other religious accounts should also be taught in government schools. This is actually an excellent idea for several reasons. One is it will help students appreciate other cultures, and second, it will help them to realize that a chasm exists between all other creation accounts and that taught in the Judeo-Christian Bible.
 
 As Vienna-born, Jewish Biblical scholar Alfred Edersheim (1825-1889) concluded from his lifetime study, “It is scarcely possible to imagine a greater contrast than between the heathen accounts of the origin of all things and the scriptural narrative” that is recorded in Genesis (Edersheim, 1995, p. 11). Other scholars concluded that in comparison to all other ancient cosmogonies, the historical accuracy and scientific plausibility of Genesis are striking. The radical thinking of its inspired author, Moses, is clear when compared to the far-fetched myths of the Mesopotamian cultures that surrounded the Israelites. It especially stands in stark contrast to the science and philosophy Moses learned in Egypt’s world-class educational institutions. (Whorton and Roberts, 2008, p. 8) 

One also soon notes that elements of many creation myths are, in several critical ways, very similar to those in Genesis. One example is most all pagan creation myths begin with the producing order (cosmos) out of disorder or chaos by intelligence or, in a few cases, by some ordering force (Leeming and Leeming, 1994, p.44). One reason why creation stories are universal is because people from every culture have asked the same basic questions about life, such as “Why do we exist? How did we humans get here on Earth? What is the end purpose of life?” These questions have given rise to a broad variety of myths about creation in an attempt to understand one’s place in the world. As Whorton and Roberts write:


Once these core beliefs are disseminated throughout the populace, life's vital questions are answered in the context of this basic foundation.

Although many similarities exist between the Genesis creation account and the world’s creation myths, numerous stark contrasts and exceptions also exist (Leeming and Leeming, 1994). For example, a theme of many mythologies in numerous cultures, including those of Greece, Egypt, and Mesopotamia, involve primeval water as the lone element that existed in the beginning. From this primeval water, everything else in the universe was created. One exception is that the basic first element of Chinese cosmology was “qi” or vapor, which was the life force that embodies the cosmic energy governing matter, time, and space. This energy, according to Chinese mythic narratives, undergoes a transformation at the moment of creation, so that the nebulous element of vapor becomes differentiated into dual elements of male and female, Yin and Yang, hard and soft matter, and other binary elements (Birrell, 1993, p. 23).



Some examples of other creation myths will follow. 

 Egyptian Cosmogonies    

Good examples of a world-creation creation myth are those that originated in Egypt. Although four different creation mythologies existed in ancient Egypt, several common themes run through all of them. In the beginning the only element that existed was a primordial ocean called Nu. From the waters of this ocean rose a hill on which a temple formed. The creator of the world emanated (sprang forth) from this primeval, living temple .... He then brought into being all the various lesser gods of the atmosphere, earth, and sky through bodily emanations. It is as if he were budding off new divinities. (Whorton and Roberts, 2008, p. 9) 

This is a good example that shows one stark contrast with the Genesis account. The ocean created the creator god who then created more gods. They, in turn, created the Earth and all that was in it. How could the ocean create a god? Evidently, the ocean is a creator that is greater than God the Creator!

The Japanese Creation Myth

The Japanese creation myth assumes a flat universe and teaches that the universe in the beginning consisted of some shapeless matter form that first existed in a silent world similar to the so-called “chaos” or temporary lack of organization described in the Old Testament. Later, in the Japanese story, sounds were given off by the movement of matter particles. This movement caused the visible light, as well as the lightest particles, to coalesce. The light that existed then was at the very top of the universe, and, below it, the solid particles formed first, then the clouds in the sky formed, and lastly the heavens, which was called Takamagahara, meaning High Plain of Heaven. Since particles then were not moving at the speed of light because they could not move up to the level of the light, the rest of the particles that had not risen up formed a huge dense, dark mass that became the Earth.

Again, we have something physical, namely sound, creating light, which evidently created everything else.



The fact is, as stated by one scholar, often “opponents of the Christian faith assume that the Biblical creation account is nothing more than yet another in a long line of such documents, in this case a Hebrew creation myth that sought to establish a preeminent place for Abraham’s descendants” (Whorton and Roberts, 2008, p. 8). In fact, as documented above, this claim is incorrect. Many creation accounts are not only unscientific, but nonsensical and in great contrast to the Genesis account which makes no such claims that water created God (Freund, 2003).


References

Birrell, Anne. 1993. Chinese Mythology: An Introduction. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Edersheim, Alfred. 1995. Bible History: Old Testament. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers. 

Freund, Philip.  2003.  Myths of Creation.  London, UK: Peter Owen.  

Guthrie, W.K.C. 1957. In the Beginning: Some Greek Views on the Origins of Life and the Early State of Man. London, UK: Methuen Publishing. 

Hamilton, Virginia, and Barry Moser. In the Beginning: Creation Stories from Around the World. New York, NY: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc. 

Leeming, David Adams, and Margaret Adams Leeming. 1994. A Dictionary of Creation Myths. Oxford, NY: Oxford University Press.

Sproul, Barbara. 1979. Primal Myths: Creation Myths Around the World. San Francisco, CA: HarperOne. 

Von Franz, Marie-Louise. 1995. Creation Myths. Boston, MA: Shambhala Publications. 

Whorton, Mark, and Hill Roberts. 2008. Holman Quick Source Guide to Understanding Creation. Nashville, TN: Holman Reference.  

Zeitlin, Steve, and Chris Raschka. 2000. Four Corners of the Sky: Creation Stories and Cosmologies from Around the World. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company.