McBloggy's Blog

Creationism in the Classroom Who Wins?

Posted by: Katherine McDuffee

Thursday, March 13, 2008 1:06 PM

My daughter has this fascination with nature. More particularly, she is in love with trees. She was born in the winter and as soon as spring came we were out the door. She would lie back in her stroller and stare at the world around her. Each time we walked under tree branches she would break out her newly discovered smile. Now that she is walking and the weather is turning fine she wants to be outside all day exploring this great big world.

I know that at 13 months old she isn't exactly ready to declare her major, but I hope that her love of nature and fascination with the world will be a lifelong one. I also hope that it informs the educational choices she makes. When she walks into her first science class I hope she is inspired and excited at the thought of discovering more of the world.

That said I want her to have faith in God and the relationship between faith and science can at times be difficult to navigate. I believe the God created the heavens and the earth. Did he do it in seven days or over millions of years? I don't know. I believe he is responsible for this amazing world we live in regardless of how he chose to execute his plan. While I respect those who try to make sense of this I am content to just have faith that he did it.

My faith doesn't keep me from respecting, valuing, and admiring members of the scientific community and hoping that my children will too. I want my kids to learn from and perhaps emulate the curious, intelligent, fascinating individuals that devote their careers to studying the universe. I worry when Christianity and Science are portrayed as mutually exclusive.

I don't think that evolution and the people who support the theory (i.e. scientists, textbook publishers, and most educational systems) are anti-religion. I don't like the "us against them" mentality that sometimes comes into play in these discussions. I would say the percentage of scientists trying to destroy God is probably equal to the percentage of dentists with the same goal.

I believe that teaching Creationism in schools is extremely problematic. The theory of Creationism demands a Creator that must be discussed. Without that discussion of religion you haven't really talked about Creationism at all. Not to mention Creationism supports only a Judeo-Christian God.

If we were to incorporate every religion and culture's theories about the beginning of the world there wouldn't be much time for class and that's what our kids are there for isn't it? If schools were to take a week from their science classes and learn about the different theories about the beginning of the world I would support that readily, but to teach only one religion's perspective (even if it is mine) would be a mistake.

Does my opinion matter? Maybe not, but that's what this Christian mom has to say.

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