I was raised a Christian. Don’t shirk or apologize. I have come to terms with my faith as most adults do… and have reconciled the gray parts as best I can. But as a child, without a doubt, I knew how the Earth had been created.
It involved an old looking dude with a huge beard saying “let there be light”. And he rocked out a bit, and then said, “yeah, yeah, yeah that is good!” … and continue the book of Genesis.
So when I got to Junior High, my earth science teacher rolled his eyes at the upshot of hands when he started talking abiogenesis one day. We all knew it was coming, and the devout Jesus freaks always have to make a stink. We were raised that way, after all. See a Mormon, slap ‘em around a bit with Bible verses. See a scientist, slap ‘em around a bit with some common sense straight out of the Bible. So when my science teacher, Mr. Takanawa, saw the raised hands in the room, he knew exactly what was coming.
… A bunch of upstart Bible thumping teenage plebes were about to try to convince him that there was more than one theory. There had to be other theories he had to teach to be truly impartial.
And as the dutiful and respectful teacher that he was, he did indeed debate with us. He also put us in our place without making us feel like total ignorant fools (a tribute to his ability and success as a teacher).
And now as an adult, I have to agree with him. Creationism just does not belong in our schools.
Our schools’ ultimate goal in any teaching method should be to focus on critical thought and rational logic. By extension, religion just does not belong in the public school system. No matter how it is dressed up. You can call creationism “intelligent design”, but that does not make it any less religious in nature. It is dressing up faith as a rational idea, a critical hypothesis. It cannot be either.
I think the duty of teaching the alternate mindset is up to the parents and by extension, the church. That is why they are there. To help the kids understand that there is more to this life than rational thought and critical thinking. Faith is important, religion has its place. And our ultimate job as parents is to really let it be known that we don’t know. We don’t know the ultimate truth. That is why we have faith. We won’t know for sure until a) Jesus comes tromping back (or some other religious variant), or b) we die. Until then, it is up to each of us to find our own truth. And there are plenty of religions on this earth to help anyone do that as they see fit.
However, science has the scientific method. Abiogenesis is the most popular theory of how life started on this Earth. And to be fair, scientists don’t know for sure either. They won’t know for sure until a) the hypothesis is proved in a lab environment, or b) observed in a natural instance or c) other life is found to exist in the universe. Until then is is up to each of us to find our own facts using rigorous scientific principles. And to all realize that c does not necessarily end the argument.
Facts versus truth. They are not the same thing. And as a Christian father, I will impart that on to my kids.
So hopefully, when the time comes, my kids can roll their eyes at the same time their science teacher does when the class starts talking origin of life and all those upstart ignorant plebes who don’t know better start raising their hands.
