Creationism in public schools?

Question

Why do so many Americans want creationism taught in public schools. Do they not believe in the separation of church and state anymore. I am not bashing Christianity I just think religion and science should be kept separate and religion has no place in public schools. And please do not respond to this question with, "But the Bible says creationism is real." So I am curious, why is it so many people support a violation of separation of church and state?

Statistics: http://archives.cnn.com/2000/US/03/08/creationism.vs.evolution/

"A CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll found that 68 percent of those surveyed favored teaching creationism along with evolution in public schools; 40 percent favored dropping evolution altogether and teaching children only the biblical version of creation."

Answer 1

We should keep in mind that less than 0.15 percent of relevant US scientists working in the earth sciences believe in creationism only as a valid theory. And that is ONLY the US which has more creationists than any other industrialized country. In Canada, Europe, Japan and other developed countries leading the fields of sciences and technology that drops to less than one tenth of 1 percent.

This is from the Gallup Poll Organization.

A thorough undestanding of evolutionary science is important for any kid to acheive ANY kind of graduate level degree in certain natural sciences. We are once again going to fall behind the rest of the world.

Answer 2

comparative religions are fine if taught during a comparative religions class. Otherwise, such stories should be taught by parents or others OUTSIDE of the public schools. And Whitehorse (above) It's Scopes, and it was in the early 20th Century, and it held Creationism up to ridicule for the better part of the century, and you can't teach it anymore. Check the ID debate around the nation and see how often ID is included in lesson plans. People TRY to teach it, but when it becomes known that a small group has managed to include it in a lesson plan, the public outcry gets it removed pretty quickly. Most Christians don't even endorse ID or teaching Creationism in public schools. Only the Fundie loonies...

Answer 3

first of all, I don't think it is "so many" that want Creationism taught in school. It's a very vocal, but small minority plus many people who are indifferent or badly educated who support this.

Where would you teach creationism in school? Science? No, creationism is NOT a science and should not be taught in any science class until creationists can show it is a science and it is accepted as such.
That leaves religion, but religion is not taught in schools because of separation of state and church. Religion is taught in religious schools or sunday schools, and that may be a place to teach about creationism (which they already do, I'm sure).
Schools do teach ABOUT religion in social classes and compare them. Here MIGHT be a place where it can be discussed, but only in comparison to other creation myths of other religions and philosophies (including the Flying Spaghetti Monster), and also to Evolution.

Answer 4

Well----first of all---you must realize that many Christians do NOT take the Creation story as a literal event. The majority of Christians are NOT Young Earth Creationists......

Creation and Evolution, IMHO are two seperate issues. Evolution is a scientific THEORY and the Story of Creation is a way for theists to grapple with the relationship of God and his creation.

Now, all that being said. I take NO issue in having BOTH ideas taught in school. I went to public school and we actually did use the Bible in literary evaluation.... I think if you are going to teach 'theories' on how the universe came into being (which I guess might be Creationism and Big Bang rather than Evolution) then you should find out what other theories are out there and teach them all....I don't take any issue with that. Why not teach all things and allow intelligent minds come to their own conclusions.

I also think that we need to keep in mind that our constitution actually does NOT say that religion does not belong in schools.....here is a good link.
http://www.religioustolerance.org/ps_pra9.htm#notok

Answer 5

Because we are a post-Christian nation, we are now reinterpreting "separation of church and state." Never mind the fact that the phrase “separation of church and state” is not even found in the Constitution (Thomas Jefferson used the term in a private letter to reassure the Baptists that the government would not interfere in the free exercise of their religious beliefs [Jefferson, 1802]).

It is a historical fact that the Bible was the central focus of American education from the very beginning—the first book in the classroom. The Bible was used, not only to teach content, but to teach a child how to read, memorize, recite, and even write (look it up).

Besides (despite what that poll says) I have found that most Christians don't want "creationism" taught in science classes anyway. What we want is for molecules-to-man evolution to be taught with all its warts (they are not even allowed to present evidence that would put evolution in a poor light).

And we want intelligent design to at least to be presented (that is science). Reliable methods for detecting design exist and are employed in forensics, archeology, and data fraud analysis. These methods can easily be employed to detect design in biological systems.

When being interviewed by Tavis Smiley, Dr. Stephen Meyer said, “There are developments in some technical fields, complexity and information sciences, that actually enable us to distinguish the results of intelligence as a cause from natural processes. When we run those modes of analysis on the information in DNA, they kick out the answer, ‘Yeah, this was intelligently designed’ . . . There is actually a science of design detection and when you analyze life through the filters of that science, it shows that life was intelligently designed.”

I agree with George Bush, "Both sides ought to be properly taught . . . so people can understand what the debate is about . . . Part of education is to expose people to different schools of thought . . . You're asking me whether or not people ought to be exposed to different ideas, the answer is yes.”

Good science teaching should include controversies!

Answer 6

I could not have time to fully answer this Question the way I would like.The separation of church and state is not real. It is a twisted form of what was intended to protect freedom of religion by atheist, communists to silence Christians. Our founding fathers were mostly all Christians ( a fact which is very documented)and tried to ensure freedom of religion. People like the ACLU and the likes have been trying to twist their words to suit their Agnda (which is Communism in the U.S.)since their founding.If you want to know the truth Check out the many books and movies by D. James Kennedy on the subject. There are more facts that support an intelligent designer than there are to support evolution. If you want to know the truth about that subject read Tornado in a Junk Yard or watch The Privileged Planet. There is also a web site with creation videos called WWW.freecreationvideos.com. God bless!!!

Answer 7

Boy you ask a big question. I think that more & more people are realizing that teaching Evolution alone in public schools is just as much a violation of separation of church & state as teaching Creationism exclusively. To believe Evolution takes more faith than to believe in a Creator by the way. Evolution is less science & more of a foundation for a godless philosophy & way of life. My question is what are the Evolutionists so afraid of? If their claims are really "scientific" as they claim then they shouldn't be afraid of challenging view points.

I'm a Christian 6-day Biblical Creationist who doesn't want Creationism exclusively taught in schools. Neither do I think it's fair or constitutional that public schools teach only Evolution. All I want is some more honesty in the area of science. Many Christians think that Evolution has polluted Christianity, but I think it's done just as much violence to science (not to mention other areas of thinking).

So many people have been fooled by the mantra "Evolution is science & Creation is religion". This is simply not true no matter how many times you've heard it. There is a branch of science that allows us to come to certain conclusions about the past--it's called forensics. It depends on repeatable experimentation. Even if you've only taken 8th grade science you'd know that repeating the beginning of the world, etc. is unrepeatable, so neither Evolution nor Creation is science. They are both presuppositions we use to interpret the facts of science. Origins issues don't exclusively depend on science, but also historical records. Evolutionists don't have any written accounts of Evolution actually happening from an intelligent source--all they can do is speculate & create their own stories. Creationists do, God Himself was there & tells us how it happened in His Word for us. And there is much convincing scientific evidence (not proof) that what God says is true.

I actually think that the most fair view point to teach in public schools is Intelligent Design, because it uses reason & real science to come to the conclusion that there must be a Designer--who that is ID scientists don't claim to know. And from a Christian & scientific point of view that's the extent of what science can tell us. This is called general revelation--it's just common sense, (Romans 1:20). (I don't agree with Christians who try to Christianize ID! In fact it makes me angry!)

What ever happened to the difference between teaching something & teaching ABOUT something? If we can learn that homosexuality exists, that there was a Holocaust, why can't we learn about Evolution, about Creationism, about Intelligent Design in public schools. Why isn't logic & reason taught in public schools so children would be free to use it to come to their own conclusions about which one makes the most sense using objective rules of logic?

So to answer your question, I think people are starting to see through the violation of freedom of speech that insists on teaching Evolution alone. Did you know that fully credentialed Ph.D. scientists who are IDers, or Creationists are persecuted in the scientific community? How is that upholding the idea of freedom of speech & religion? The truth is a person can be a good scientist & a Creationist at the same time. My father is one.

Answer 8

First it is not a violation of anything. Public schools are NOT THE STATE. Public schools are all locally owned and locally operated. The Amish have their own "public schools" where their culture and religion is taught.

Creationism is just as feasible, and even more so then evolution.

What are the evolutionists afraid of? They claim to be the "free thinkers" and the open minded ones yet are afraid of teachings all possibilities.

And, again, public schools are not the State and never have been. That is a bastardization of something that is not even in the Constitiution. A left wing liberal made up statement.

Answer 9

Cretinism is a natural way of thinking for those who believe that a god created the world. Such bizarre thinking belongs in churches, or perhaps in church driven schools. The notion that those who despise this crap should be subjected to it because it makes christians happy is one of the reasons that so many people think that christians are selfish above all else in this world.

Answer 10

This American doesn't want it in public schools. I sometimes wonder if they ask certain people in those polls since everyone I know doesn't want it taught. I would agree to it if ALL the creation stories from ALL the religions were taught.