Creationism In Public Schools
Creationism in Public Schools
Brandon Karsen
Axia College of University of Phoenix
Although creationism is believed to violate the separation of church and state, it should be taught along with evolution in America’s public schools. Students are currently being denied information that is relevant to their everyday lives, by excluding creationism from public schools in America. For example, in geometry classes, students learn several theories; why should not the same be true for science classes? The debate over evolution versus creationism is an emotional as well as a political issue. The majority of students come into the classroom with some religious views, so teaching both creationism and evolution would serve students’ best interests. The educational system should teach our children all the current positions on the issue, and allow the students make their own decisions what to believe or not believe about the origin of human existence.
As stated in, The New Oxford American Dictionary, “Creationism is the belief that the universe and living organisms originate from specific acts of divine creation” (The New Oxford American Dictionary). The story of Adam and Eve as the first humans created by God is the basis for this theory. In Jerry Bergman’s (1999) article, “Teaching Creation and Evolution in Schools Solid Research Reveals American Beliefs,” a poll commissioned by the atheistic organization Council for Secular Humanism, found “90.7 percent of Americans identified with a specific religion, and 83.8 percent were either Protestant or Catholic” (p. 3). So according to this poll, most Americans are either Protestants or Catholics, which believe in creationism. So why then, when the general population wants both ideas of origin to be presented, as demonstrated in the following table (Bergman 1999 p. 3-4), is evolution still the only idea of origin being presented to our children in the public school system?
|I want taught |Midwestern Survey...
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