Pro: Creationism, evolution should both have their place in school curriculum
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Should creationism be taught in public schools?
Where did we come from? From the smallest of organisms to the largest of mountains, everything got its beginning at some point. Many continue to strive for answers, but what do we teach ...
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Should creationism be taught in public schools?
Where did we come from? From the smallest of organisms to the largest of mountains, everything got its beginning at some point. Many continue to strive for answers, but what do we teach in our public schools? Here, Crossroads residents and experts share their thoughts.
The United States was built on God and the money even says "In God We Trust," so incorporating creationism into the school curriculum seems a natural step, proponents say.
"I think they could teach a mixture, a little of both," said Andrea Youngblood, who works at the Victoria Lowe's. She added she believes God created the world but that creatures also evolved over time.
And she isn't alone.
Of the more than 10,000 adults surveyed internationally in an Ipsos Mori poll released in June, each country had more people who agreed than disagreed that it is possible to believe that God exists and that life evolved through natural selection.
Of the United States' nearly 1,000 respondents, 53 percent held those beliefs, while 42 percent remained skeptical of Darwin's theory of evolution.
Rosie Johnson, a Victoria housewife, said she also believed schools should teach both lessons and let the students decide for themselves.
Many children grow up in less-than-ideal circumstances and hearing a bit more about religion could be a good thing, she added.
"It wouldn't hurt them," she said. "This way they can learn."
People often argue that evolution is science and creation is religion, but that isn't the full truth. Both are belief systems about the past, said Gary Bates, chief executive officer of Creation Ministries International, a ministry geared to support the church and proclaim the Bible's truth, according to the group's Web site.
When it comes down to it, he said, it's not a black-and-white issue. Creationists and evolutionists have the same facts rocks, living organisms and DNA to study but they come to vastly different conclusions about the evidence.
"The facts don't speak for themselves," he said. "And that's the problem."
The ministry believes creationism should be taught in schools, he said, but not at the exclusion of everything else. Include evolution, he said, but include it "warts and all," including its inconsistencies.
"People should be entitled to make their own opinion," Bates said, "but they cannot make an informed opinion or an informed decision if they are not exposed to any alternatives."
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how can you believe in god and evolution? if god is perfect then his creations should have been perfect and not needed to evolve over the last 12000 years...and if you think that perfection is creating an animal that eats plants to be chased down by one that eats meat then killed by having its throat riped out perfection...wow that is one heck of a way to control population, perfect plan god.
November 24, 2009 at 1:02 a.m.please re-read my post I didn't side either way on this arguement i simply stated that man in his quest to find god has created science so maybe we dont teach it in science class but in the social studies class. Its alright to teach our kids about gay marrage and other controvercial subjects but nothing about religion? Why is that? It would seem to me that teaching our children about all faiths might go farther towards world peace and harmony than some of the other things they "teach" in schools today
November 23, 2009 at 8:54 p.m.Creation Ministries International is a Christian religious organization, not a scientific research group. Gary Bates uses the empty rhetoric that a lot of creationists use to pretend that creationists and evolutionists come to "vastly different conclusions" based on "the same facts", but in fact creationist rhetoric is permeated with conceptual fallacies (erroneous reasoning) and denial of relevant scientific facts. Creationism simply does not exist in professional scientific research. If it did then creationists would be able to point to relevant research article about creationism in the professional science literature, but they are unable to do so because there is no such research.
Creationism is religion, not science. This is why it does not belong in science classes (it is science that is supposed to be taught in science classes). Students are not scientists. Good reasoning and critical thinking don't come naturally, which is why we *teach* these things to students in classes in the first place. Classes are not an anarchy where students just get to make things up and believe whatever they feel like believing. Students are taught about scientific discoveries, taught what science is, and taught how scientific research is done and how scientific conclusions are arrived at. It's pretty ironic that creationists propose that students should do just that - but, of course, they're only doing this precisely because creationism is a scientific failure.
November 23, 2009 at 9:38 a.m.FYI - "In God We Trust" did not become the motto until 1956. It appeared on a coin during the Civil War but disappeared again after that.
The founding fathers did not intend for the US to be a Christian state. They intentionally provided for the separation of church and state. Public education is on the "state" side.
"Shake off all the fears of servile prejudices, under which weak minds are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call on her tribunal for every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear." --- Thomas Jefferson, letter to Peter Carr, Aug. 10, 1787
"But a short time elapsed after the death of the great reformer of the Jewish religion, before his principles were departed from by those who professed to be his special servants, and perverted into an engine for enslaving mankind, and aggrandizing their oppressors in Church and State." --- Thomas Jefferson to S. Kercheval, 1810
Keep Religion in Church and Science in public schools.
November 23, 2009 at 9:34 a.m.SugarMagnolia said:
Teach SCIENCE in the science classroom. Teach religion in the church.
I have to agree with this. Our kids are already confused enough by what society expects.
However, I will say I believe in God, my ancestors did not evolve from apes, maybe some of my relatives may act like it, but it is not true.
November 23, 2009 at 9:12 a.m.May I recommend a book: Why Evolution is True by Jerry A. Coyne. Victoria Public Library has it.
November 23, 2009 at 7:19 a.m.Some can't see the forest for the holly bush. Deck the halls babe.
November 23, 2009 at 6:20 a.m.Teach SCIENCE in the science classroom. Teach religion in the church.
It is as simple as that.
November 23, 2009 at 5:47 a.m.science says the universe started with a big bang. they do not say how this happened. For arguements sake lets just say as the bible does that god created the heavens and the earth. maybe he did and maybe he didn't thats an arguement that will not be answered by bickering about it here, but by faith and science. to truely discover the answers both should be taught. That way open minds will prevail. The quest to find god has opened more doors in science than it has closed. With out the quest for god there would never have been knowledge. So ye of little faith remember god helps those who help themselves. without the quest to find god there would be no science.
November 22, 2009 at 11:56 p.m.Damn creationism nonsense belongs in Sunday school.
November 22, 2009 at 11:22 p.m.Our public schools are screwed up enough without teaching this insanity.