Can't Jesus Christ be literal without the unlikely prospect of trudging up North and dragging two large Polar Bears down to an Ark in the Middle East---among other plausible scenarios...having to be true and just so?
Polar bears are species...Noah had Kinds on his Ark (though possibly a number of species within those kinds). He didn't need a polar bear as long as he had a Bear Kind. The Polar bear didn't exist back then, they later microevolved from whatever bears were on the Ark.
Why can't Genesis be symbolic? Why need every single word of the Bible have to be so inerrent?
I believe it has to do with the manner of its writing, and the manner in which the NT authors refer to it (or refer to Jesus referring to it or whatever).
What defines a creationist?
Someone who believes the world/universe/life was created by a sentient (presumably supernatural) entity. Most often this entity is a god, sometimes as part of a pantheon of gods, but more commonly a monotheistic one. The most vocal of these are christian.