quote:
Originally posted by fleeming:
According to scientists, teachers, and civil libertarians, the Taliban has invaded Ohio. Creationists have devised a theory called "Intelligent Design" (ID) and are trying to get Ohio's Board of Education to make sure it's taught alongside Darwinism. Unlike creationism, ID accepts that the Earth is billions of years old and that species evolve through natural selection. It posits that life has been designed but doesn't specify by whom. Liberals call ID a menace that will sneak religion into public schools. They're exactly wrong. ID is a big nothing. It's non-living, non-breathing proof that religion has surrendered its war against science.
Creationism used to be assertive and powerful. Darwinism wasn't allowed in schools. As Darwin gained the upper hand, conservatives fought to preserve creationism alongside evolution. They lost the war on both fronts. Courts struck down the teaching of creationism on the grounds that it mixed church and state.
I was interested to read this as only recently a similar story has come to light here in the UK. A school in Gateshead has begun to teach creationism, causing a bit of a stir and bringing the great debate back into the public eye. (See link + related links)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/education/newsid_1872000/1872331.stm
Prof Richard Dawkins has written to the school inspectors Ofsted, asking for the school to be inspected. The thing that annoys me most is that I thought people weren't supposed to be teaching religious beliefs in a science class, but we appear to have a one-way street which is hardly fair. Let me explain.
There is an uproar when a creationist viewpoint is taught in schools, and yet evolution in my opinion, is every bit as much a religious viewpoint as creationism, and yet no-one bats an eyelid when it is forcefed to our children!! Evolution is a religious philosphy and a worldview. It is a belief system about the past based on the words of people that weren't there trying to explain the evidence in the present. Creationism is the same - a religious philosophy.
I personally believe, (and I know many of you will shoot me down demanding evidence I can't give) that it takes more faith to believe in big bangs, dark matter or abiogenesis, than it does to believe in an all powerful creator God who put us here.
Our children should be taught the FACTS at school, and then be allowed to decide for themselves whether to believe the creationist or evolutionist worldview. We shouldn't be biasing their opinions, we should be allowing them to make up their own minds. Right across the country, schools are encouraging children to change their religious beliefs in order to accept evolution, and this goes by virtually unchallenged!! A small minority of schools decide to stand up for a creationist view, and look at the uproar!!
Remember that Copernicus was ridiculed when he said that everyone was wrong to believe that the Earth was the centre of the universe. He had the boldness to stand up and say that the Earth was moving in an orbit around the sun.
Give science enough time and it will eventually catch up with the Bible.
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