You know, in the South back in the day, they literally used to justify slavery based on a bent interpretation of the curse of Ham.
I'm not sure how many 21st century Christians would consider their religion as having anything to do with the justification of slavery, but it certainly was the case in the past. Used to be Christians also refused to deal with usury, and so employed Jews as money managers and tax collectors...and then eventually slaughtered them when the money came due in a way they didn't like. Modern Christians don't seem to go down that road much these days.
So, you can pretty much find a way to make religion do anything if you try hard enough. Most of this young earth stuff is a direct result of people like Darwin going on about massive time scales. Its not the religion, its the people bending the religion to suit a modern agenda. Same as with groups like AQ.