Creationism in the Classroom.

Did our planet, along with many of it's species evolve in a time phase over millions of years, or did God create the universe in a time period of seven days? The debate has been around for as long as we have, and along with that came the argument of what should be taught in the classroom. Pressures have been put on schools to have the teachings of creationism and evolution be equally controversial scientific theories, or remove evolution all together, making it much less likely to be taught.

Many whom support the idea of creationism believe that the idea of evolution is an unproven theory. They believe that creationism and evolution are both faith positions that explain the past, so if we teach one, we should be allowed to teach the other. Those whom believe this idea also argue that there is a lot of evidence to support creationism. According to the fossil record, there is evidence to a biblical flood as well as the absence of many forms of species during certain time periods. Many argue as well that children are very impressionable, and if you teach them that evolution is the only way the Earth and all it's species came about, they will believe you.

In contrast to that, those who agree with teaching evolution rather than creationism argue exactly the opposite. They agree that children are very impressionable as well, and teaching them the literal truth of Genesis as science is completely incorrect. Evolution is a theory about the development of life, and although scientific theories are generally unproven, isn't that definition of 'theory' anyway? They argue that the theory of evolution is not a faith position, seeing as it is supported by an overwhelming amount of evidence. They also argue that creationism is not science, considering it takes the Genesis account. It is not a hypothesis because it cannot be unalterable, where as evolutionists form many hypotheses which are constantly being tested, and thrown out when appropriate. The main argument though being that the promotion of any religious doctrines is strictly not allowed by the government, as well as the fact that evolution is one of the main foundations for anything taught in science. Understanding how it works helps teach students about the scientific method.

Deciding a subject position on this matter was slightly difficult, although I can confidently say that I don't agree with teaching creationism in scientific courses. I agree with the fact that because evolution is being taught, creationism should be taught as well, but I don't agree with it being taught as a mandatory part of science. There is nothing wrong with teaching the creation beliefs of Christianity, or any other religions for that matter, through religious, history, or language classes, but I believe that science should not be a part of those. I am currently taking a class that's 'Human Evolution', obviously specifying in the topic, and not once has either professor forced any of the ideas on us, which I think can be a misconception about evolution. Only the facts are given, and I think that because the amount of evidence for evolution greatly exceeds that of creationism is one of the main deciding factors for it being put in schools. I can appreciate the viewpoints of both sides, I just firmly believe that there should be a fine line between a persons beliefs and what is being taught as truth. There's always going to be opposition, especially to what we're ignorant of. I feel these issues can never be resolved, but they can be reduced, and the only way to do that is to respect everyone's varying position.