I don't think the writers of Genesis thought that their story really happened, they just made up a story based from Babylonian creation myths.
But then Archbishop James Ussher constructed a chronology of biblical timelines that moved the myth into real world dates where we get the 6,000 year old age of the Earth from.
Ussher's chronology showed that biblical stories about creation, flood myths, etc. were absurd, but instead of people realizing the bible was telling absurd stories, they thought it was science telling absurd stories. Thus young-earth creationism was born, a branch of religion that seeks to deny reality and force any scientific evidence into a biblical box.
But then Archbishop James Ussher constructed a chronology of biblical timelines that moved the myth into real world dates where we get the 6,000 year old age of the Earth from.
Ussher's chronology showed that biblical stories about creation, flood myths, etc. were absurd, but instead of people realizing the bible was telling absurd stories, they thought it was science telling absurd stories. Thus young-earth creationism was born, a branch of religion that seeks to deny reality and force any scientific evidence into a biblical box.
Using the supernatural to explain events in your life is a failure of the intellect to comprehend the world around you. -The Inquisition
