Creationism on the school syllabus?

Question

I (probably among many) was totally socked to find that some schools here (UK) have used creationist resources in science lessons, against the current syllabus. Creationism is a religious idea, not a scientific one, for me. UK students HAVE to study Religious Ethics until GCSEs, so they will already know about creationism - why bring it into the science class?

Creationism is clearly also something that would require more evidence than evolution - for example, you are posulating that things have just come into existence pretty much as they are (vs. evolution - gradually) and THEN you are also postulating that there is a designer. Creationism has less proof because of this. There is no scientific evidence for God, OR for all things coming into existence as they are (note I say 'all,' some ferns and obviously crocodiles etc have lasted aaaages.) Whereas evolution - even if it isn't totally proven, does not also require another scientific proof (God) in order to be true.
Any thoughts?

'socked' = shocked

People - I'm not saying creationism shouldn't be taught, just not on the science syllabus. It is not a science.

Or do you want people to analyse ALL of religion scientifically too? Because I don't think you would.

One of the points of religious belief being religious is that it is to do with FAITH and belief without evidence. Whereas science is the opposite.

Why would anyone WANT to believe in evolution? They don't, but they think it is logically possible. Same as gravity.
Why would anyone WANT to believe in creationism? TONS of reasons - of course people want a God.

Therefore, generally speaking, people will also have more of a bias if theyre trying to prove something true which they also REALLY WANT to be true.

My G-d I feel sorry for some of you. Bush would be proud.

I never said evolution wasn't a theory. But it requires proof to decide on ONE issue (that humans gradually evolved) whereas creationism needs proof to decide on two (things appearing in a week AND a designer)

Answer 1

Creationism isn't a theory. It's an untestable hypothesis. That means it isn't science. If you're child is in a public (British that is; in America "public" and "private" schools mean the opposite) school, you can voice an opinion. If your child is in private school, I encourage you to use every resource you can to bring the school into compliance.

Answer 2

There is a long process before a new Science subject can be taught in Schools. As the Trial in 2005 Dover Pennsylvania showed , creationism is about as far from science as God is from man ... infinity minus 1 . Dr Dino , Kent Hovind , has some entertaining lectures on Creationism I could see much of his ideas being taught in creationist syllabus. You would need to cover all the same areas ... palaeontology , geology , biology , chemistry , cosmology etc , but you would teach them from a different point of view and give evidence that a Creator had a hand in things. A few Examples that might be taught: The idea of intelligent design or irreducible complexity is the key to the creationist argument , that is to say there is something out there that cannot be reduced to a more simplistic form and thus must have been made ‘ as is ‘ , the tail of the flagellum was offered as such an item that must have been created. When you dig up a fossil there is no Bar coded date stamp on it and carbon dating only works well over only over 50,000 years and that assumes there was the same amount of carbon 50,000 years ago as there is today. You would have to teach that the world was a completely different environment when it was just created and that accounts for the apparent age of dinosaur fossils . When it comes to the cosmological topic you would probably have to teach things like the fact the sun is losing mass and if you added back all the mass the sun lost over the past 4.5 billion years . The sun would be too massive to produce our solar system the way it is. So it must have been Created ‘as is’ or recently created. You would have to teach that the chemistry and the structure of atoms and molecules was created that way otherwise the universe would fall apart. Who decided that an electron should spin around an atom at just the right speed to keep the atom intacted ? You could teach that the probability of things being just the way they are to improbably to happen just by using natural laws – they must have had a guiding force. Needless to say, none of the examples I gave stood up in court ! Creationism simply is not science , unless like Mr Hovind , you redefine the English word ' Science ' ;)

Answer 3

Okay, so the Christian scientists who DO prove parts of creation should not be credited? Like it or not, proof of creation does exist. I think it's perfectly acceptable to tell kids "This is what we know. Darwin had this theory of creation (explain), these people botched it and fabricated fossils (explain), these people believe God created the universe (or a Supreme being, whatever you want to call it), and this is the evidence they have." We need to show kids ALL the evidence, since science is always changing, they need to know all the theories.

Answer 4

Evolution hasn't been proven or even been close. As time goes on there is more and more research that make evolution harder to believe. It's people that are too lazy to do a little research that insist evolution be taught. "It's what we were taught so it must be true" If the THEORY of evolution is taught, creationism should be too.

Answer 5

We live on a planet teeming with life. Plant life with approximately 250,000 species. Animal life with over a million species. Scientist are learning just how complex life is. So complex that it requires design. The evidence of design requires a designer. Scientists are also learning the conditions for life, just how perfect conditions here on planet Earth are to support all this life.

To think, people believe this all happened by chance. Yes the odds are 1 in 1(with a billion trillion zeros behind it). Yes it is a belief by many that this all just happened by chance. That belief takes a greater faith than believing in a Creator. A virtual impossibility is an impossibility.

Answer 6

I agree with you... Creationism can neither be proven or disproven... creationists simply say that God is beyond time and space... that's not science; it's fairy tale junk. Science needs to be taught at science classrooms, not religion.

Answer 7

I suggest a comparative religion class, if the fundie christians think theyve won this round think agian, teach buddhism satanism and every main religion out there and see how many choose for themselves whats right, and it wont be christianity. Edit: to the newcovenant guess what creationism is a part of the christian doctorine, therefore its on!

Answer 8

Yay just what the world needs....more propaganda. Not everyone has the same beliefs on creationism so that's out the window. Make a separation. Make science public and religious private

Answer 9

It is a theory, no matter if you think it is valid or not, and some scientists theorize it. As long as theology isn't brought in, what is the problem, AH, I know, yall are scared that kids will use the brains God gave them and choose for themself their orgins rather than just being spood fed the idea of evolution.

Answer 10

It's the evolutionary THEORY vs.
The creation THEORY !!
They are both theories and should both be studied. Let the students decide which they believe.