Should creationism be taught in school...and why/why not

[demorgan]

Im eager to hear people's opinion about this one.

[JohnDalglish]

Hi,

I believe it should be taught as part of Comparative Religion (as it is the UK), but it scares me that it appears to be taught with the same emphasis as Biology in some places.

Long days and pleasant nights

[Todash]

Not unless you're talking about a private religious school, where the parents are paying for, in part, religious instruction. To teach Creationism is to teach about God, and that is not something I, as a parent, would want a state-run school doing. Imparting a belief system is part of the parents' job.

For the record, I believe in God. I believe he created the world. But my answer to the question would be the same even if that were not the case.

[rjt65]

I like the separation of state and church-- to many issues--if we all agree on the science stick to science.

more challenging question is do we force our beliefs on others? so if we leave this decision to locals versus federal gov't--than a local school may choose creationism and leave off darwin... hmmm

IMO we should enforce the science be taught all over and if a local school has backing of the local municipality and is ok with adding in the religious side I am ok with it... for their choice.

prefer religion be taught in religion science in school

thought peeps?

haha this could have been redirected to the inpolitically correct thread ;-)

[Roseasharn]

Sure. I think comparing and contrasting theories is an interesting way to get people thinking. The crux of the matter is that we don't know what the truth about the initiation of the whole of existence is as of yet. We have some good ideas, some bad ideas, some so-so ideas. But nothing concrete. This might be because none of us were there, but I could be wrong about that.
The only thing you can't ignore is the adaptation (evolution) in the multitude of species on the planet when dealing in science lessons. It would be stupid to do that and I would have a problem with that. The idea that god said "hey, we need some light in here" and started things moving is perfectly fine with me. The idea that species don't change is not. Because it is obvious that they do.
I think the creation stories of all cultures have a place in history lessons for sure. After all, they are very good at helping to explain the some of the key beliefs in those cultures. They also help to outline our similarities. Which is also good. And they show something else that I think is very valuable. We, as a species, have been looking for the answers regarding our origins almost since we showed up on the playing field. That gap was filled by various religions that worshipped invisible or sometimes visible gods for a very long time. Then it was replaced by some with a god we call science. Because you can treat anything like a religion. I think its almost as crazy a leap of faith to think that the universe exploded into its current incarnation for no reason as the leap of faith that someone told it to and it did.
But that's just me.

[aptpupil]

No surprise that "Creationism" should be such a big deal in the USA, the most extreme fundamentalist Christian nation in the free world. I guess until the existence of God is either finally and irrevocably proved or disproved, there is an argument for the teaching of Creationism, as there is for all other plausible options.

I'm not a fan of this "halfway-house" of Intelligent Design though. That just comes across to me as a ploy by a certain section of Christian Creationists who, fearing that they are losing the battle with the Evolutionists, have gone back to the drawing board and come up with something a little more acceptable to the Science community, and to the "God sceptics" in general.

[Kim L.]

In comparative religion, yes. It has no place in a scientific curriculum, however. It would be similar to teaching that alchemy is a science (true in Discworld, of course).

[coolambindang]

I do not mind my kids knowing the story of Adam and Eve and other bible stories but they also know that evolution is the accepted school of thought on origin. It is scary about those who reconcile creationism with actual scientific fact, there is even a musuem where you can go and learn about creationism, you see "first Man" right next to dinosaurs and wolly mammoths. You get to see the whole 4000 years of the history of Earth. Those that work there treat the bible as actual historical fact! D'oh!

[JRLauer]

Science can't explain how all this came to be, not conclusively so why not tell the whole story. I think all views should be heard in a case like this and let the student make up his/her own mind.

[OhmyGod!]

No. I think it shouldn't be taught in schools at all. Specially not as the 'truth'. It can be taught like all religions: How they influence culture and how they work and the basic facts about those religions. I think it's pretty sad some schools teach children the earth is like a couple of thousand yrs old.