Science vs. Religion: Teaching Creationism in Public Schools

on February 17, 2009 at 6:59 AM

religion, creationism

According to the New York Times, a leading scientific group "has announced its intention to boycott Louisiana because of a new state law that could open the door to teaching creationism in public schools."

The measure was actually signed into law last summer by LA Gov. Bobby Jindal. The controversial legistative language states that teachers will be allowed to "use supplemental textbooks" in the classroom to "help students critique and review scientific theories."

In response to the law, the major science group the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology announced it would not hold its 2011 annual meeting in New Orleans, opting for Salt Lake City instead. Scientists strongly feel the law is a roundabout way to allow the teaching of creationism--as opposed to evolution--in the classroom.

Do you believe schools should be allowed to teach creationism?

Filed Under: education

Comments (15)

Peajewel

on Feb 17, 2009 at 8:23 AM

If they are going to teach one, I think they should teach all. If my children have to go to school and learn about evolution then I think it is only fair that they learn about other things as well. I think that their should be a class that teaches about all religions.

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FIVEHAPPYHEARTS

on Feb 17, 2009 at 10:48 AM

YA BUT RELIGION SHOULD BE TAUGHT AT HOME AND NOT IN SCHOOL AT LEAST TILL THEY ARE IN HIGH SCHOOL AND CAN UNDERSTAND THE DIFFRENCE BETWEEN ALL THIS STUFF I HAD TO SEARCH FOR THE MEANING OF THE WORD AND ITS STILL MIND BOGLING I NEVER NEW THAT WORD EXSISTIDE HAHA NOW I GOT TO GO GET MY READING GOING

kemclaughlin

on Feb 17, 2009 at 2:30 PM

I am a religious person. I agree that children should be taught both sides, but I do not want anyone teaching my kids about the religious side of creation. That should be done at home by parents according to their faith and conscience. Not according to the public school curriculum.

autodidact

on Feb 17, 2009 at 4:48 PM

evolution is not a religion.

this is why I homeschool. creation myths are for lit or social studies, not for science class.

mommyheymommy

on Feb 18, 2009 at 9:35 AM

They are both theories of how man and the world became. I applaud LA!!! I hope more schools follow suit.

good clapping good

Lessell

on Feb 19, 2009 at 11:46 AM

Creationism is not a religious idea... it is scientific. I can see how it is easy to jump to it being religious because many religions embrace it, but it is really scientific and is being researched by many credible scientists. There are unanswered questions in Darwanism that some people feel can be answered by creationism.

Creationism is simply the idea that we are not here by some crazy series of cosmic flukes, as Darwin suggests. There are so many things that are improboble that had to have happened in a specific sequence within a specific range of eachother for Darwinism as it stands now, to be correct.

Creationists believe that some other being, or power put forth the necessary sequence for our life to begin. The theory does not name a God in particular or even cling to the exhistance of any God at all. It explores all options from God, to aliens, anything.

I don't think there is anything wrong with teaching both ideas. In fact I think that the truth of how we came to be is likely a merger of the two theories and I think that to only teach children one side of the story and not allow them to ask the obvious questions would be a failure in education. We wouldn't have had Einstein or even Darwin if we had shunned people for thinking outside of the box. Many of the scientific theories we hold now as truth were at one point shunned and looked down upon. Do we really think that we know all there is to know about the universe just because it is 2009?

mrssundin

on Feb 19, 2009 at 7:08 PM

i think that i will still with home schooling and if they think that coming to salt lake for there annual meeting that is not going to fly with the mormans i can tell you that from experiance.

Lillette

on Feb 20, 2009 at 12:51 AM

I dont think it should be taught in public school.....it is not a generally accepted scientific theory and would cause all sorts of trouble.....

momfortwo11n9

on Feb 20, 2009 at 6:23 AM

You know when I was in elementary school we said the Pledge every morning followed by a couple of songs then we would have a silent prayer. If you did not want to pray you did not have to but it was ok to do so. No one said anything then but now its all up for complaint people say God should not be in our Pledge or our schools. Well those few people ruin a lot for the rest I think the prayer we had did us a lot of good. As for the teaching of the Creation in schools I think they should teach the view of Creation. You really can not get into the religious part of it because there are so many different beliefs out there, but they should not teach the Big Bang Theory as the soul start of the universe. Kids are very impressionable and it should not be up to the schools to lead them down the wrong road. I also don't think teachers that express their opinions should get in any kind of trouble. Believe it or not there are kids out there that believe in Darwinism because its the only thing they have been taught.

on Feb 20, 2009 at 1:04 PM

I have to clear something up now, I was thinking of Creationism as being another word for Intelligent Design. But it is not. I looked into it some more and realized Creationism is a religious idea, but ID is what is not. I think ID should be taught in schools as another theory but not creation.