by Clyde Starr

Created on: April 04, 2009

Both evolution and creationism are technically theoretical. This is because neither has been absolutely proven to be true or not. This being the case, some would argue that both creationism and evolution should be taught together in schools and not seperated out as they currently are in the public classroom. I firmly disagree, and for several reasons, as follows:

First, evolution is a scientific theory, and thus can be taught using scientific methodology without as many leaps of faith involved. True it is only a theory, but it is a strongly supported scientific theory. I have nothing against faith and religion, except where they try to teach what they have as doctrine. Children in general are going to be influenced by their parent's religious preferences, long before they are old enough to make up their minds for themselves, but by including religion in the public classroom, the one outlet where they may be able to learn to form their own opinion may be denied to them.

Second, and probably more important, is the fact that while there is a single theory of how evolution is involved with man's history, creationism differs from one culture, faith, sect, or religion to another. Even among Christianity, there are several thousand subcultures with their own variations on the overall creation mythology. I call it a mythology rather than a theory only because in the context of varied different religious beliefs, until proven, a religious doctrine is called a mythology, while a scientific doctrine is a theory. If you allow one version of creationism into schools, even if you could teach it with an unbiased approach, you would then be required to teach all the various versions of creationism that there are, with an equally unbiased approach. This would be good, except for the fact that many religions have vastly different and contradictory biases on their belief structure. How do you think a good christian parent would feel to hear that their son or daughter just had an unbiased lesson about creationism from the standpoint of a book of satanic faith? This is an extreme example, but brings my point home I think quite nicely. We all know that the average christian family would be up in arms about their child learning about satanism of any kind, especially in an unbiased format.

Third, and probably one of the hardest questions to answer is, who determins what parts of creationism to include, and what parts are excluded. Who determines what constitutes a biased opinion, and what is merely educational information to be processed. You can find plenty of scientific information to process on evolution, but that information is easily eclypsed by all the contradictory information you can find regarding the various creationism viewpoints. This is why I feel that although creationism may be just as valid a theory as evolution, as neither is proven, it is problematic in the extreme to include such in the public education system. Science is hotly debated as it is, but if there is one topic that will inspire anger, resentment and disorder in any discussion, it is a topic that is involved with religion. Even sports, politics, and child raising in general pale in comparison to this grenade of the social situation.

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