creationists during this period were largely premillennialists; their belief in christ's return depended on a quasi-literal reading of the bible. however, they were not as concerned about geology, freely granting scientists any time they needed before the edenic creation to account for scientific observations, such as fossils and geological findings. in the immediate post-darwinian era, few scientists or clerics rejected the antiquity of the earth, the progressive nature of the fossil record. likewise, few attached geological significance to the biblical flood, unlike subsequent creationists. evolutionary skeptics, creationist leaders and skeptical scientists were usually either willing to adopt a figurative reading of the first chapter of genesis, or allowed that the six days of creation were not necessarily 24-hour days.