Should Creationism Be Taught in Schools?

  • Zazoo

    Zazoo (100)

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    Evolution is. Should Creationism be taught hand in hand as a theory alondside of the theory of evolution?

    Your ideas?

    I think it should. If you are going to teach one theory, teach the other. People need to be educated.
    January 6th, 2011 at 03:10am
  • folie a dru.

    folie a dru. (1270)

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    Absolutely not. Especially not in science class where there's 0 evidence for it.

    Not everyone is a Christian and to only teach the Christian theory of evolution when it was "borrowed" from a bunch of other religions anyway is just wrong.

    You're also making it sound like there's only two theories and that's wrong.

    If you want your kids to learn about Christian Creationism, send them a Christian school. It has no place in public school.
    January 6th, 2011 at 03:16am
  • wx12

    wx12 (10125)

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    zazoo:
    I think it should. If you are going to teach one theory, teach the other. People need to be educated.
    What would you teach?
    When you learn about evolution, you learn about homologies, embryonic development, analogies, uniformity of DNA, the fossil record, vestigial organs, case studies like peppered moths, etc.

    What do you have to support creationism, to teach from a scientific perspective?

    And how could you teach about "creationism" when every religion has a unique creation story and differing beliefs about the world?

    Additionally, evolution and creationism don't have to contradict each other
    kafka.:
    The Evolution theory is not just the simple fact that we've evolved from alien monkeys. Far from it actually.

    I believe in evolution creationism. I believe that a Creator created our world but through evolution. Religion and science can co-exist, they are both the expression of human knowledge, you just have to move past the stereotypes. I got ''lectured'' by someone once because I told her that I believe both in creation and evolution. She called everything from bad Christian to stupid for it.
    There is no rule that says you must be an atheist to accept evolution.
    January 6th, 2011 at 03:27am
  • thalida.

    thalida. (320)

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    I think this could fall under teaching religion in schools, because as Kurtni pointed out it varies between each religion, and I think this topic may start heading in that direction.
    January 6th, 2011 at 03:34am
  • wx12

    wx12 (10125)

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    thalida.:
    I think this could fall under teaching religion in schools, because as Kurtni pointed out it varies between each religion, and I think this topic would head in that direction.
    I was going to lock this, but if you look through that thread, it rarely talks about creationism v. evolution, so I think this is an acceptable topic.
    January 6th, 2011 at 03:36am
  • Stephen Fry

    Stephen Fry (100)

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    druscilla bleeds.:
    Absolutely not. Especially not in science class where there's 0 evidence for it.

    Not everyone is a Christian and to only teach the Christian theory of evolution when it was "borrowed" from a bunch of other religions anyway is just wrong.

    You're also making it sound like there's only two theories and that's wrong.

    If you want your kids to learn about Christian Creationism, send them a Christian school. It has no place in public school.
    What about state-run Christian schools?

    I was taught in my school about evolutionary creationism (is that the right term?), that evolution was created by God. Though, that was in RE, not biology, where I assume the evolutionary things Kurtni mentioned were taught.
    January 6th, 2011 at 03:44am
  • wx12

    wx12 (10125)

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    Stephen Fry:
    What about state-run Christian schools?

    I was taught in my school about evolutionary creationism (is that the right term?), that evolution was created by God. Though, that was in RE, not biology, where I assume the evolutionary things Kurtni mentioned were taught.
    I think that's different- if you're attending a school with a religious affiliation (Christian or whatever) then creationism is acceptable and practical, because you can teach it pertaining to your particular religion, and it doesn't have to be presented as science.

    But not a secular, public school. We don't have state run religious schools in the US, so I'm not really familiar with them, but I think that's the same as any religious school.
    January 6th, 2011 at 03:46am
  • folie a dru.

    folie a dru. (1270)

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    Stephen Fry:
    What about state-run Christian schools?
    I think state-run Christian schools go against the [U.S.] Constitution, but we're not discussing that. Shifty

    I agree with Kurtni. A religious school is different. You expect a child to be taught religious things a religious school. Not a public school with no religious affiliation.
    January 6th, 2011 at 03:47am
  • wx12

    wx12 (10125)

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    druscilla bleeds.:
    I think state-run Christian schools go against the Constitution, but we're not discussing that. Shifty
    The UK doesn't have a written constitution like we do in the US, so it's not really violating anything.
    January 6th, 2011 at 03:52am
  • folie a dru.

    folie a dru. (1270)

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    ^
    Oh. Right. Facepalm
    I'll just edit my post a little bit . . . Shifty
    January 6th, 2011 at 03:53am
  • wx12

    wx12 (10125)

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    druscilla bleeds.:
    ^
    Oh. Right. Facepalm Shifty
    And I think there school system is different too, it's not like how in the US we have designated schools based on where we live, so you wouldn't be forced to go to a Christian school by location.
    January 6th, 2011 at 03:55am
  • Sheepy

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    I think the major hurdle as to teaching creationism as a world-creation theory is that there are countless ways it could be taught. Past "something created the universe" there's not much in the way of theistic consensus, and even that point alone has debate.

    Even if you decided "Okay, we're going to go with the Christian view on creationism", you'd get opposition not only from other religions, but from Christians themselves. I mean, in that one religion there's several slightly differing teachings-of-events. Do you teach that the flood happened? Do you teach evolution or not? If so, is it natural or divinely-guided? Is that still the same today? When do you teach that the earth began; the scientifically-accepted age, six thousand years ago, ten thousand years ago? Was there a gap between the creation of the earth and the living creatures or not? How big was it? Was Genesis a literal narration of events (If so, to what extent), or an allegory? Did Adam and Eve exist; if so, are they the sole points-of-origin for humanity or not? Were the creation days human days or day-ages? Young Earth, Old Earth, or Mature Earth? Does it slot in with Evolution, or contradict it entirely? The variations are somewhat endless. And that's without considering the 5 other world religions and their countless denominations, at all.
    January 6th, 2011 at 03:56am
  • wx12

    wx12 (10125)

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    ^And if you teach something vague and all encompassing to counter those problems, where is the value in that? You'd essentially be saying "Something Godly could have created the world too," which is common sense and just wasting time. Everyone knows that some people believe in some type of creationism.
    January 6th, 2011 at 04:04am
  • Xsoteria

    Xsoteria (100)

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    Well yeah there is awful little substance to teach anyway. Unless you go with all that "God planted fossils in order to tempt us" crap, but that's just pushing it.
    January 6th, 2011 at 06:53am
  • wxyz

    wxyz (240)

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    If it should be taught at all, it should be in the sense that such a belief exists. In other words, in religious studies or a similar subject, it would be acceptable to have a section on different beliefs of why we're here, one of them being creationism. There is, however, no way that it should be taught in science lessons, for the simple reason that it's not scientific. There's practically zero evidence compared to the other theories that are taught, and it's basically formed from religious ideas, which are also irrelevant to science lessons.
    January 6th, 2011 at 11:53am
  • heyJAYhey

    heyJAYhey (100)

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    Besides the fact that there is little evidence, if a science class were to go into the theory of creationism, it would most certainly have to go into other creation theories to please the religions of the students with religions other than Christianity. I don't know about your guys science curriculums, but mine barely has enough time in the school year to finish the what is required by the state now -- from a more practical standpoint, I can't even begin to imagine where they would find the time to add it in.
    January 6th, 2011 at 12:38pm
  • wx12

    wx12 (10125)

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    heyJAYhey:
    Besides the fact that there is little evidence, if a science class were to go into the theory of creationism, it would most certainly have to go into other creation theories to please the religions of the students with religions other than Christianity. I don't know about your guys science curriculums, but mine barely has enough time in the school year to finish the what is required by the state now -- from a more practical standpoint, I can't even begin to imagine where they would find the time to add it in.
    That's very true.

    I don't know if this is the norm but in both the biology classes I took (In high school, not college. ) when we got to evolution my teacher kind of gave a "disclaimer" that you were entitled to your own beliefs, and learning about evolution didn't mean you couldn't be a creationist. She compared it to learning about the beliefs of various political parties in a government class, and how that didn't mean you couldn't belong to your party. I feel like that's a fair acknowledgement, but I don't know if that's the norm for biology classes.
    January 6th, 2011 at 01:55pm
  • The Rumor

    The Rumor (365)

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    I think creationism could be taught within religious education but not science.

    Something else that might add to the discussion is that I go to a Roman Catholic church and the priests there teach that the creation as it is in the bible is a story and you can't turn your back on the scientific evidence behind evolution.
    January 6th, 2011 at 02:13pm
  • Stephen Fry

    Stephen Fry (100)

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    Kurtni Manson:
    And I think there school system is different too, it's not like how in the US we have designated schools based on where we live, so you wouldn't be forced to go to a Christian school by location.
    Erm, it's kind of like that. Theoretically, you should be forced to go to a Christian school, but we still have catchment areas and stuff that could result in that (basically if you live in a certain area, you need to go to secular school A or religious school B, but if you put A as your first choice, but it's oversubscribed, you may end up having to go to B, also if B typically way out-performs A, many pupils like me end up going there because of the academic merits). But that's way off topic, sorry XD
    The Rumor:
    I think creationism could be taught within religious education but not science.

    Something else that might add to the discussion is that I go to a Roman Catholic church and the priests there teach that the creation as it is in the bible is a story and you can't turn your back on the scientific evidence behind evolution.
    I pretty much agree with this Cute
    January 6th, 2011 at 05:09pm
  • folie a dru.

    folie a dru. (1270)

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    Kurtni Manson:
    I don't know if this is the norm but in both the biology classes I took (In high school, not college. ) when we got to evolution my teacher kind of gave a "disclaimer" that you were entitled to your own beliefs, and learning about evolution didn't mean you couldn't be a creationist.
    And mine let people who were uncomfortable with the idea leave the room. Facepalm

    We also only took about thirty minutes to discuss evolution, in the most vaguest of senses. I know shit about evolution because of high school biology.
    January 6th, 2011 at 06:13pm