Why are public schools so hell bent on teaching kids unproven lies such as evolution?

Question

For all those who believe in evolution, I ask you to answer these questions:
When, where, why, and how did life come from non-living matter?
How did matter get so perfectly organized?
Where did the energy come from to do all the organizing?
When, where, why, and how did single celled plants become multi-celled? (where are the two and three celled intermediates?)

Answer 1

Evolution and creation are both religions. Why do I say that? Because both are a belief of someone, but not proven. There are different kinds of evolution...Cosmic evolution-the origin of time, space, and matter.
Chemical evolution-the origin of higher elements from hydrogen.
Stellar and planetary evolution-origin of stars and planets.
Organic evolution-origin of life from inanimate matter.
Macro-evolution-changing from one kind into another.
Micro-evolution-variations within kinds. Only this one has been observed. The first five are believed by faith (believers in evolution) and are religious, not scientific. Only the last one is scientific and has been proven. The others are believed to be true by association. Evolution should not be included in science textbooks. Science is about things that can be observed and proven. For those of you that believe in evolution and can prove it, there is a $250,000 offer to anyone who can give any empirical evidence (scientific proof) for evolution. This offer demonstrates that the hypothesis of evolution is nothing more than a man made belief system (religion). Here is a statement from an evolutionist..."Evolution is unproved and unprovable. We believe it only because the only alternative is special creation, and that is unthinkable."-Sir Arthur Keith. If evolution can be taught in schools, then creationism should also be taught in schools, because it is another belief. As far as the Bible being used in schools, it is legal to use the Bible as a textbook to teach history and such. Teachers just can't use it to try to convert students to Christianity. In 1980 the Supreme Court stated that , "the Bible may constitutionally be used in an appropriate study of history, civilization, ethics, and comparative religion, or the like." In 1963, the Supreme Court banned the use of the Bible to try to get kids saved in public schools. So, many believed that the division of Church and State meant that the Bible could not be used in public schools. There are many ways to dispute evolutionism but it is much harder to dispute creationism.

Answer 2

I'm certainly not in a position to cite all the evidence in a Yahoo Answers post, but even the Vatican has said that evolution is "more than a theory," so is the Pope a liar too? And for one to tell a lie, one must know the truth and then speak something different; so does this mean that those who espouse evolution secretly know it is not true? And if evolution must be proven in order to be true, why would creationism not come under the same rubric? Just because you don't understand how a complex system arises, do you stop thinking and make up something supernatural to attribute the complexity to? That is simply a way to get out of having to prove it. If you demand proof, you must be ready to provide it yourself.

I don't need proof for my beliefs, but evolution is not a belief, but rather a scientific theory that has been reinforced with so much evidence that it has been raised to a scientific fact.

Answer 3

Don't you think it's a little silly to expect to get any kind of answer to these questions here? Buit if yous seriously want an answer, you could look onthe websites of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (150,000 working scientists), the National Association of Biology Teachers (50,000 teachers) or the National Science Teachers Assn, or the Geological Society of America, or any of the hundreds(!) of scientific organizations that have totally endorsed Evolution. Those guys are pretty tired of answering the same boring questions from ignorant religious fanatics over and over, but maybe they will do it one more time.
The evidence for Evolution is really strong, as any of these groups could explain. It is taught in schools because it is the best answer to the question of how animals and plants developed, and there is no other theory which has any significant evidence to support it.

Here's a question for you. Do you think that Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, Islamic, Atheist, Agnostic or other scientists around the world care even a little bit what any Christian text says about the beginning of the world? Or that they will accept any other explanation other than Evolution without solid scientific evidence?

Answer 4

First of all, I don't think that public schools are "hell bent" on anything. Look at how easily they add and subtract different topics, assessments, requirements, etc. They are rather whimsical, those public schools.

Secondly, to note that evolution is "unproven" is correct. However in science there is nothing that is proved. Not even gravity. Evolution is a theory, much like gravity is a theory. If you are going to toss out evolution you also have to toss out gravity, or else explain to the entire scientific community why your new definition of the word theory to include only what you agree with should be globally accepted and should replace a standard that has been in effect since the times of Hipparchus in ancient Greece. To summarize it thusly: if there is no evolution, then why aren't you floating away into outer space?

Third, just because something isn't proved doesn't make it a lie. A lie is something that is a deliberate falsehood. I can make the statement, "The shirt that I will wear tomorrow will be purple." I am not lying. Neither you nor I know what color the shirt I will wear tomorrow will actually be. I haven't proved my statement, either. However, in all likelihood, since I made that statement I will, in fact, wear a purple shirt. Or, if I wanted to be recalcitrant, I'd wear a green shirt. But since I haven't decided, I'm still not lying. Just positing a hypothesis.

Third, you can't "believe in" evolution any more than you can believe in forks, carpeting, fingernails, or any other noun. Evolution is not a divine creature. It is not a religion or other philosophy requiring any sort of faith. It is a theory which is nothing more than an explanation that has successfully made predictions and explained all of the data gathered. In fact, to be a theory means that evolution has not been wrong yet. While I'd like to compare religion to scientific theory, I cannot as the nature of science clearly draws a distinction between the two.

In fact, science may not attempt to explain the supernatural. All science does is studies the interactions between physical objects. Evolution is the interaction between a living being and the physical environment that surrounds it. If that environment is a bad fit for the being, then the being dies. That is called "survival of the fittest".

Before I answer your questions, I'm going to give you the same version of evolution that I give to all of my students --
1. That which does not kill you, leaves you alive.
2. You have to be alive to sexually reproduce. Necrophilia does not result in pregnancy.
3. Children are not identical to their parents. They have traits in common with their parents, but yet at the same time they are just a little bit different.
4. Grandchildren are less like their grandparents than they are like their parents.
5. A great-great-great-great grandchild looks almost unrelated to their great-great-great-great grandmother.

Ta da. That's it. Did you find a flaw there? Did it mention monkeys? How matter became organized? Energy of organization? No? That's because the heart of evolution doesn't deal with those issues. Don't believe me? Read Darwin's book. You won't find it in there either, though the book may put you to sleep.

A final not that my students seem to have a lot of trouble with -- "closest living relative" does not mean parent. Heck, my brother is my closest living relative (we are four years apart in age and both are related by just one leap backwards on the family tree). I in no way came from him, or am descended from him. Especially since he is my younger brother.

Now, on to your questions --
When, where, why, and how did life come from non-living matter?

Who knows. There is a bunch of speculation, but it is quite obvious that life does exist. Assuming that life exists, it must change (see the points about not looking like your great-great-great-great grandmother) and that happens through a process called evolution. Evolution doesn't talk about how life came to be. That's an entirely other thing altogether, which is as far as I'm aware, not taught in schools other than to do some vague hand waving at a primordial soup.

How did matter get so perfectly organized?

I don't think that matter is perfectly organized. I mean, if it were perfectly organized, then my appendix would be good for something, I'd have a tail to go with my tail bone, ostriches would be able to do something with their wings, there would be no need for glasses, etc. The thing is that wings on an ostrich, tailbones, appendixes (with the exception of appendicitis) are not an instant-death kind of thing, so they leave organisms alive (point #1 above).

Where did the energy come from to do all the organizing?

This is a question that science isn't answering. This is where faith and religion come in and that is under no circumstances a part of evolution. On top of that, I question whether anything is organized (as seen above) and why you seem to think that ENERGY has up and organized matter.

When, where, why, and how did single celled plants become multi-celled? (where are the two and three celled intermediates?)

Seriously? Algae. Look at algae. They are two and three celled intermediates. Matter of fact, they still exist. They've been around for a long, long time. You eat algae every time you have sushi. Plants weren't single celled. They came from algaes. The great-great-great-great-great granddaughter of an algae looked so different that we have arbitrarily changed its name to "plant" and then created a whole classification around it. That's it. If you asked a plant whether or not it was different from an algae, it might give you an answer that is entirely different from what some old, dead white guy who got to name things came up with.

Answer 5

Evolution doesn't deal with how life started. The energy comes from the sun, since the earth is not a closed system. And there are mutli-celled organisms.

The reason it is taught in school is because schools have science class and evolution is part of science. If you go to a private religion school, they will teach you religion. Your post shows a lack of knowledge on the science of evolution, so I assume you missed that part of science class.

Answer 6

Obviously the public school system has failed you. Instead of asking a bunch of people on Y!A who aren't experts on the subject... why not do a little research for yourself. Read _Origin of the Species_, Better yet, find a modern biology book and read the chapters on evolution. Find websites, there are plenty of them out there.

Matter is not perfectly organized. There are still questions science has yet to answer... why jump to the god answer just because you don't know how something works? It doesn't help you understand it... it just gives you solace in thinking you have the answer to life's nagging questions.

Answer 7

It has been shown that amino acids can be formed from non-living matter. Amino acids are the building blocks of life. If you give a few billion year, it is possible to have living matter come from non-living matter.

So, this war we are having in the middle east is perfect? Things are not perfectly organized. The organization you see is the human need/desire to categorize things.

It is unknown how the universe began.

single celled plants are not as robust as multicelled plants.

The questions you ask have not be answered. But, at least I am honest to say that we really don't know the answers. People who believe in religion often think they have all the answers.

Evolution is not a lie. Evolution is a process that has been shown to work many times. Belief does not equal truth.

Answer 8

a million. Evolution isn't a Lie.. its real.. we've actual evidence to hold approximately your door step... you on the different hand have not any evidence to hold everywhere. 2. The bible is taught in faculties.... ina college direction talked approximately as international Religions the place it belongs. 3. did you comprehend that Mien Kampf had lots to do with Christianity? did you comprehend that throughout Germany on the time the propaganda that Hitler used became that to be a upstanding german Christian became to assist the Nazi occasion or extra effective yet, turning out to be to be a member of it? .. so please next time you attempt to equate something atheist with Nazi comprehend that the Nazi element is on the Christians palms... Atheists had Stalin so no less than get your insults precise then people could definitely provide up and think of you having some thing clever to declare.

Answer 9

Teacher here. I won't jump in on the debate to hard...

Public schools, due to the US Constitution, cannot teach anything Biblical. Until the part of the constitution is removed about Church & State...

What's taught are the best researched scientific reasons and the facts that are there... because they have to, not want to.

A lot of districts simply teach life basis like cell structure (we all have cells) and cellular or micro-biology (little critters everywhere!), or botany (seed, plant, trees... oh no! they have cells too!) and let the student go home to their family and figure it out.

Until Church and State are no longer seperate... Let the heated debate continue!

Answer 10

May I assume you are a creationist? Do you imagine that creationism is a fact? I'm not sure why it would be better for children to be fed something that cannot be tested and that, frankly, makes very little sense. Have you ever read a biology textbook? Any book used by children studying science explains your questions in a reasonable and simple way. Pick one up and read through; perhaps if you choose one intended for elementary students you will be able to better understand what evolution is all about.