by Danny Rose
Several years ago the Louisiana Science Education Act was passed which states that any science teacher in a public school who teaches evolution must teach an equal or greater amount of creationism. Basically this means that the science courses are now vague versions of religious education which directly contradicts the separation of church and state. Do you believe that it is right for the state to require such a controversial subject to be taught in public schools? Why or why not?
11 comments:
When the constitution was written, seperation of church and state was meant to prevent what happened to England where the Church and Government were directly linked in making decisions. This is not at all a violation of the Constitution. It is the same as the Pledge of Allegiance. People to often take the meaning of "seperation of church and state" and turn it into this extreme idea that the words "God" or "church" mentioned in the same context as anything concerning government dollars means that the Church and State are linked and their way of life or beliefs are threatened. If you really think, not many people care about the sovereignty of our constitution, they just really want what makes them comfortable.
As Benson said before, the separation of church and state was literally that: the dissociation between religion and government.
I believe that the subject should be taught, simply because it does not and should not offend any student participating in the class. It is simply broadening the students minds, to see what other possibilities there are. The teachers are specifically instructed not to "convince" the students, but instead teach them about it.
Yes, a broad teaching of ideas is good. It is assumed that all would be fine if an equal amount of science and religion was taught without persuasive motives, but that is nearly impossible. One could not lightly teach on creationism because there are so many religions with different viewpoints on the matter. Even if the basic fundamentals were taught, religious teachings would outwiegh scientific theories being taught. One must also consider the fact that most individuals have faith in something, even if it is nothing. Therefore students are influenced differently (for better or for worse) on the various things taught no matter what religion or scientific theory is being focused on. Public schools should not be required to match religious teachings with evolution teachings. Religion is a personal decision and life style. Schools shouldn't be forced to teach on it. They should only be required to teach science and evolution...as a THEORY (which is what it is).
I think that the teaching of anything related to beliefs should not be allowed.
When I learned about evolution in Biology, it wasn't "We evolved from monkeys, monkeys evolved from whatever." It was more like "This type of lizard evolved into this type of lizard, to better suit his surroundings."
That's not religion, that doesn't regard how we came to be. That's simply science, it's the truth, evolution is how creatures survive with their ever-changing surroundings.
I think that creationists were just looking for something to complain about, which is the case for close to every problem in our country. "Oh, they're teaching evolution, they have to teach creationism." It's evolution, not evolutionism.
Rebeka, evolution is very much a theory on how human life forms came to be. To simply base your idea on a name is ridiculous. Even creationists believe in evolution to a minor degree but it is called adaptations and yes, technically evolution. The theory of evolution is that life started with single cell organisms and that they divided and became more complex and somehow "evolved" into multi-billion celled organisms.
No, I do not believe that creationism should be taught along side evolution. As has been stated before; government and church were meant to be seperated.
Teaching creationism is teaching something that is best left for the choosing of the individual to decide on whether or not they want to learn about it. There are too many types of religions and too many ways life was thought to have happened to teach them all and keep creationism as well as evolution at an equal balance.
Evolution has been what is scientifically proven and is mandatory in being taught where creationism is not. Therefore, creationism should not be taught along side evolution but better left up to the choosing.
How can creationism be labled a controversal subject, but not evolution? Either way you swing it one is going to be opposite of someones belief. It is impossible to please evryone, however it is possible to be fair. If evolution is to be taught in a classroom, then it needs to remian as being taught as theory and not truth.If a teacher chooses to belief that evolution is how the world came to be then they should not impose their beliefs on a student. Just as a teacheer of a christian faith or any other faith is not permitted to impose those beliefs. Their is difference in sharing your opinion and enforceing what you say to be truth. Since evolution is part of a science curriculum then i believe students should be free to express their opinions on the subject, not neccesarily making creationism part of curriculum.
On the matter of the "seperation between church and state", this was simply created to prevent the church gaining control of the gonvernment, which has been a common incident in the past. It was not created to abolish all talk of religon. As a christian it is my personal belief that evolution is not true. However when the subject is brought up in a science class I am not ofended. I have as much freedom to discuss my religion as our science curriculum does to include evolution. As long as that balance remains, for educational purposes only should evolution be taught.
I do not belive that the teachings are necessary, although I do believe that they are very informative. They probably just do not want to offend any person's beliefs, so they cover every possible explaination ever discovered. It's the same as racial issues, it's only religion (not literally).
The constitution states an individual's right to his religion the government should not enforce the teachers to teach creationism as a compliment to evolution because it makes the matter more religious rather than scientific. Evolution, to some, seems like a matter that contradicts some religious beliefs. As this maybe true, those who are even slightly interested in learning about evolution should not have to lose their chance to learn just because it goes against the religion of others. Those whose beliefs are challenged should just be given a choice to be excused for the duration of that time.
I agree with Benson,the phrase seperation between church and state has been twisted lately. Anyway, both side are controversial. If you are going to teach one, then you have to teach the other, dont label them differently. All they are are theories on how humans came to be. One just so happens to be part of a religion also, and some of the people in these religions get offende when only one side is taught, then the other side gets mad when only the other is taught. People need to stop being such whiny wimps and just shut up and deal with things. The two sides should be taught like this " Evolution says we were tadpoles, then fish, then monkeys, now we're humans. Creation says God made us as humans and made tadpoles, fish, and monkeys seperately." Sweet, simple, strait to the point.
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