The belief, founded in the scriptures of many religions, that every species was individually created by God in the form in which it exists today. In Christianity and Judaism this belief accords with the Book of Genesis. Such a view was the generally accepted explanation of the origin of life until the advent of Darwinism. The idea still holds sway in certain religious communities, e.g. among fundamentalist Christians in the USA. However, special creation is contradicted by fossil evidence and genetic studies, and the pseudoscientific arguments of creation science cannot stand up to logical examination.