ExchangeEveryDay Past Issues

I am confused by this site. Is “The Article” the 3 paragraphs in blue above?

To say that Creationism must be taught in the classroom is to advocate the belief that children learn only in a classroom. This is a premise that Early Care and Education professionals have disputed both through the voice of experience and through research.

Creationism can be learned from those schooled in Biblical teaching, including parents/guardians modeling to their own children the consequences of such belief.

As an educator and as a Christian, I do not fear Creationism. What I do abhor is the rabid zealousness of some [on either side of the issue] that promote their belief as the "true country club" of those destined to survive for eternity--whether in life after death or through the genetic gene pool.

As a parent, teacher, administrator and counsellor for over a quarter of a century, I have much experience working with children of all ages. I feel that most children are very capable of making informed decisions based on facts presented to them in ways that they can understand based on their age, abilities and developmental stage. However, religion and science, while sharing some aspects (and where I feel the confusion lies) are different entities from each other and need to be taught separately by people who can convey the differences to the children. We live in a society where we are free to practice religion or not, to raise our families according to our spiritual beliefs and to send our children to schools of our choice. Regardless of our beliefs, I feel that our children deserve to learn about whatever subject they arestudying from experts who live what they teach, so that the children can learn not only the subject but also to have respect for people of all faiths and learn to tolerate different opinions from their own. Education breeds tolerance which this world could use more of!

I strongly disagree with those who would prohibit creationism to be taught. To not allow children to be exposed to creation teaching, will teach that the evolution theory is a fact. Also, this will not give the children the information to make informed decisions.

The creationism beliefs are ancient and found in many countries and groups of people; Native American, Finnish, Islamic, Hinduism's Vedic Creationism. There are many variations among contemporarty Christian creationists in their positions and beliefs (Progressive Creationism and Intelligent Design Creationism are only two of several). It is unfortunate that there are so many of the Creationists that misunderstand, and distort the scientific knowledge on evolution which is highly complex. For clarity of communication it would be helpful to start with understanding the difference between the use of the word "theory" in an informal versus the scientific formal sense. Next, it would help if the general public were required to take sufficient science classes to understand the basic principles of evolution.Since education is about learning to use our critical thinking higher order skills the subject of the many views held about "how life began" is a valuable one. However, until a significant percentage of the scientific community embraces the creationist view of the origin of life, earth and species, it is inappropriate to provide equal time to one group of creationist proponents side by side with evolution in a science class. In my day, (the 1950's) we were able to learn in school about the various religious views from the pastors, rabbis, priests, etc., in our community through a civic class. What I gained from this experience was an appreciation of the diversity of beliefs and that America's founding documents protected individuals through "seperation of church and state".
The fervor of some groups of creationists suggests that their true agenda in advocating for inclusion of creationism in school science classes is towards establishing American government as a "Christian" nation.

Children should be taught both and allowed to decide for themselves which they want to believe.

I am always fascinated that people think that evolution and creationism are such seperate ideas. In the end really there can only be theory on how we began to exist.

Regardless of what you may believe, evidence shows that we continue to evolve from wherever we started. Even a christian person recognises God giving each person free will. That free will allows them to make changes in their environment and in themselves which affects future generations, spiritually, pyschologically and physically. This can be noted by the variety of shapes, sizes and colours we all come in now and how different we were only a few thousand years ago.

For children to be truly educated they should be aware of all trains of thought, ideas and theories. Who knows where any of it may lead and who may take us there. Perhaps we should work on helping our children to be more open to all ideas and make decisions as adults based on interpreting a variety of concepts but is still open to development.

I believe the education system has not fostered the development of creative thinking skills to allow children to learn a variety of facts and come to a conclusion that answers their questions. Theories concerning the creation of the world/universe (or multiple worlds/universes) should be presented to children on their developmental age level, in an unbiased and factual way. Teachers should NOT use their power of persuasion over students to choose beliefs. A truly good teacher will present ALL the facts equally and leave the "finding answers" to the students. Children should receive enough information on a subject to provide them with the ability to come to their own conclusions.

Raised in an almost 100% Catholic country, Austria, with a weekly class in religion and theology as part of our curriculum from 10 to 18 years of age, our professor, who was also a priest, never saw any conflict between religion and science. The Bible, we were taught, was a metaphor and written by many people over many centuries. Austrian Catholics did not grow up with a literal interpretation of the Bible. But I do think we qualify as Christians, just kidding. And by the way I do not understand why there were Christians in the Old Testament. Science grew out of the traditions of the moasteries which were the guardians of books. Science is a process of inquiry and discovery of our tangible and measurable world. Science does not procalim eternal truths but knowledge or understanding at a particular point in time and geography. Science is an open-ended process and revolutionary new understanding is never accepted easily by the scientific community. Science is about human curiosity, wonder, awe and endless questioning and searching tio know. the giants of science though felt the realm of the meatphysical, the place where the questions cannot go, that is where there is silence and at best poetry. The Bible is poetry, but of course that is my opinion. Creationism is a beliefsystem, and to my sorrow it appears a closed system, not helping man to understand more. What we do with what science discovers is a question of ethics. Well. I still thinlk that the European community, which is in truth much more diverse than the United States should introduce the idea of creationism in their curriculums.

Before Darwin's "Theory" of the beginning of the universe and of life, people knew that God created the world, and all that exists therein. To believe in evolution one must deny God and His supreme power. That in itself becomes a religion, called atheism, or a belief in godlessness. People have been bullied and coerced into believing that evolution is fact rather than theory. Therefore, to force one belief system over another, is wrong. If anything along these lines is to be taught, then it needs to be open to argument and pursuasion on the part of the students themselves, to be allowed to choose what they will believe, according to their own belief system. That becomes education. Kids are not to be spoon fed theories, but to research and learn all sides of an issue and then decide for themselves. That is education.

The idea and religion and science can not mix is absurd. Whether religious or not, those who are willing to be objective in comparing evolution and creationism by their scientific merit will logically come to the conclusion that creationism is true. It takes a significant amount of faith to believe in evolution because evolution defies science.

One very simple example of this is that the theory of evolution relies on spontaneous generation. Spontaneous generation is "the generation of living from nonliving matter," as Webster states. It is taken, Webster continues "from the belief, now abandoned, that organisms found in putrid organic matter arose spontaneously from it." This simplistic idea dominated scientific thinking until 1846, when Louis Pasteur completely shattered the theory by his experiments. Do you see the dilemma of the evolutionists in explaining the first amoeba, or monad, or whatever formed the first cell of life? If it sprang up spontaneously from no previous life, it contradicts the basic law of nature which forms the foundation of the entire evolution theory. Obviously, if spontaneous generation actually did take place in the distant past to produce the first spark of life, it must be assumed that the laws which govern life had to be completely different from what they are now. But this wouldn’t work either, because the whole evolutionary theory rests upon the assumption that conditions on the earth have remained uniform throughout the ages. Dr. George Wald, Nobel Prize winner of Harvard University, states it as honestly as an evolutionist can: “One has only to contemplate the magnitude of this task to concede that the spontaneous generation of a living organism is impossible. Yet here we are – as a result, I believe, of spontaneous generation.” Scientific American, August, 1954.

On the other hand, there is plenty of scientific evidence that proves creationism - evidence that the scientific community has not been able to disprove simply because it is impossible scientifically speaking. One very simple example of such evidence is the polonium radioactive halos found in all granite all around the world, as discovered by world rebound scientist Dr. David Gentry. These radioactive halos prove that the world was formed within minutes - even seconds. If this were not so, these radioactive halos would not be left in these rocks. For more information on this, visit www.halos.com.

I sincerely hope that reading this will remind you and encourage you to be unbiased as you search for scientific truth.

Once again the scientific community has a dilema with a theory that does not have any scientific backing. That does not mean that the theory, which is a pretty widely accepted theory as theories go, should not be allowed to be mentioned. We are still teaching children that people theorized that the world was flat, why not let the theory be taught as a theory that some people believe. In the future there may be a discovery of evidence that totally proves the theory wrong. The children of the future may laugh at us for suggesting such a theory, or they may prove the theory and how foolish and arrogant would we have been to dismiss it without proof. Why is it so important for someone to decide that there has to be only one answer? Should we stifle the thinking minds of the future with our inability to allow endless possibilities? As all theories go, there will be a day when the evedence necessary will be discovered. It may be the next "big bang" or it may be "the day of reckoning". Which ever it is, it is not our place to limit the possibilities.

I find it funny that someone would say that creationism is "an almost exclusively American phenomenon" when the Bible is the basis for this theory & the Bible was not written by Americans it was written by mainly Hebrews. I also find it interesting that for years Christian children have been forced to learn such theories as Evolution and no one cried that their civil rights were being violated. However, when schools are asked to include Creationism as part of their teaching, there is a terrible outcry that Christians are forcing their religious beliefs on others or in the case of this article that it would stifle children's intellectual growth. I believe that teaching only evolution is what is stifling.

I am a christian and I believe God made the world just like the Bible says. I am also a teacher. I think it's important to present different ideas, especially scientific ones, with the reasons why the different opinions exist. Contrary to a previous post, I am perfectly capable of reasoned debate. I have yet to see scientific proof that evolution is the correct version. Why is it perfectly o.k. to deny my right to free speach and to tell me what I believe about the bible is wrong, but it's discrimination if I disagree with you and your lack of belief?

I am appalled at the attack that Christians are under all over the world, but this latest comment from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe is ridiculous. They hide under the cover of "children's education" all the while they are teaching their own anti-Christian beliefs while denying us the right to teach ours. I am thankful to live in America where I have the right to teach my own children in my own home where they don't have to be constantly subjected to this type of rubbish. Perhaps the members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe should acquire a bit more education themselves; "creationism" is not an "exclusively American phenomenon" and if their education had been worth anything, they'd know that. The quality of their education is plain to see.

I was educated in Austria attending a 8 year Realgymnasium, which is a college prep program with a science base. We attended classes in theology and two years in philosophy in our last two years. I believe that the idea of creationism ought to be debated in the upper grades and used as a way to contrast the principles of the scientific method against a reasoning process which lacks any hope for measurable proof any time in our imaginable future in my opinion. However, censoring runs counter democratic ideals, debating clashing ideas (it is questionable whether creationism believers can be part of a reasoned debate though) is of the greatest importance.

I respect your right to state your opinions, and believe in creationism, but seriously, open your minds! And I recommend the documentary, "Jesus Camp."

I suppose I must begin with the fact that I am a devout Christian, and so for me creation is an absulute truth. Secondly I will point out that for those careful enough to research this on a scientific basis, there is much supporting evidence. Thirdly, any scientist will tell you that evolution is a theory.

I chose for many years to send my children to a school that supported my religous beliefs and educated them in kind. My younger children experienced the public school education. When this subject came up in the classroom my son had a wonderful teacher who lead and open discussion about all of the theories of man's existance and earth's formation; including creationism.
This is all most creationists ask for: education that includes the scientific basis of creationism.
There are many many religions-of all varities- as well as many not so religous individuals, who support creationism.

It is certainly appopriate to expose are children to all such evidence.
It is also appropiate for those of us who care for children to understand that we teach children "what to believe" by every interaction, every relationship, and by every adult role model they encounter.

Why is it ok to force evolution down our kids throats, but we can't even mention creation?

As an independent thinker, I chose to look up the reference to the article, and found it at the website: http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/10/04/america/schools.php

Some of the comments in the Exchange article were not in line with the thought of the original reference. I would also guess the whole story is not even in the original article. So we need to not fight such a fierce battle on a message board based on a small summary of a much larger issue. Perhaps if you feel so strongly, you should be writing to people who make these decisions, rather than just venting.

I for one will take an active role in my child's education, and find out what the local school is teaching. I will also discuss my beliefs with my children, and help them discover answers for themselves for questions they have. We live in an age when we can find whatever infomation we want, and it is my job as a parent and educator to help children learn how to find that information, and verify its accuracy.

In my experience, people growing up narrow-minded are often that way due to family beliefs rather than from school.

Denying children access to all views is in my opinion a step backwards. Refusing to allow creationism a place now, because of it's supposed "effects" in the past, is just as bad as only teaching creationism in the past. Both are forms of control by higher authorities. People should be allowed to make their own decisions on what they choose to believe. The only way for this to happen is to present ALL information.

I think that it wouldn't hurt to teach all theories of creation and let each person decide his/her beliefs. As a parent, I am responsible for my child's religious beliefs and resent that society should impose their beliefs on my family. Governments and schools are not responsible for teaching children about spiritual or moral values. They are there to educate for acedemic purposes only. Personally, whether or not European or American schools teach creationism has no impact on me. Why are we wasting our time on worrying about such things.

Why is a Child Care magazine getting involved with this issue? This is a school issue. It is a parents job to teach their child what to believe not the school. If they don't like what they hear at the school counteract it with teaching values at home. This controversy does not belong in this forum!

It is so strange to me that during the loss of 911 everyone was encouraged to pray for the families, pray for the lives that were lost, pray for the nation, pray for strength to defeat the enemy. All eyes and hearts were open to the reality that there is a Supreme being to whom we should look for help. But we want to ignore the fact that that same Supreme Being is our Creator. How do you write the history books explaining 911 and how a nation reached out to the same Supreme Being that we want to deny as Creator. Children need to know All ideas concerning their existence. We encourage them to make choices but we are not putting all the options on the plate.

Very interesting article It appears as if the authors are following down the same line of thought. Narrow, one way thinking, with a strong bias for what they think is correct, appears in every sentence. It is a shame that logical adults won't or cant see that their line of reasoning is just as flawed as their perceived oponents.

Truth exists, and it is not a recent creation of modern or post modern thinking. We as humans are here on earth briefly and our private, personal, opinions no matter how loud we shout them to the world will not change reality. We and our ideas become history so quickly.
Truth is alive and well, and it will win in the end of this war on ideas.

The history of science is the history of shifting paradigms. Ask Copernicus. Multiple theories of the origins of homo sapiens have abounded. If our goal is to educate youth to become creative, critical thinkers then let's present them with all theories. As educators we must never fear ideas. If we fear ideas, paradigms will cease to shift and learning will cease.

Teach as many lies as you like.
It will never change the fact that God created us and the world. If evolution were true our museums would be full of missing links,but they still remain missing.

Hurray for Europe! I am glad that they have taken such a stong stand on this issue. It is important that science and religion are not mixed in the schools. A lot of proponents of Creationism have a difficult time understanding the scientific process and what a theory is. I wish that American children didn't have to have such confusing messages about science and religion. It is perfectly possible to be able to be religious and understand and appreciate the science of evolution at the same time! I hope this country can come to the same courageous stance as this issue becomes more prevalent!

I think the words are absurd and designed to emotionally charge thought. We live in a global society that demands all thought to be heard and allowed. No longer can we close out any religious, social, scientific idea or ideal. Children can and should learn about other cultures without being preached to. My personal beliefs as a writer, educator, preschool director do not dictate to children. However, I can share the premises of each different religion in the realm of multiculturalism. This goes for creationism as well. It is prepostorous to think that all things Western are evil and not worth viewing. The moral code that comes from "creationism" - treat people as you want to be treated, forgive, love, have compassion. These are all Christian tennants. We must remember, Christianity and Judaism come from the east.......

I am nearly disheartened by some of the responses as I was when reading the original article. When I was in school we were taught about both the 'Big Bang Theory' and creation, over time I developed my own beliefs based on the information given and picked up on my own. People talk about creationism as if there is only one theory there and that all creationists believe the same thing; which is not true. I feel that school should be about learning; about making LOTS of information available so that children can draw their own conclusions. So why not teach about both concepts; evolution and creation and let each child decide when they are old enough? This would of course require the adults to teach without bias which might prove too much of a challenge as some of us can be very close-minded.

I feel very strongly that children should not be taught one way about religion. I feel very strongly that children should be exposed to evolution. I feel that children need to be taught to think and evaluate. When it comes to creationism, well, I don't agree with it, but I would never impose my thinking on a small child. Rather try to answer questions from children with an open mind and let them know that each family has their own beliefs. I feel strongly that teachers should support families even if the teacher does not agree.

As a Christian, I firmly believe in creationism. Before I was a believer, when I was taught evolution in school, I thought that the whole concept of evolution was ridiculous. I had never been exposed to creationism, but I felt that evolution was not the answer. The truth is that evolution is not proven fact, and creationism needs faith to be believed. Why are we wasting time arguing over this, when there is not real need to teach how we were created. As children grow, read, and think, they will reach their own conclusions. Teaching a faith that a family does not share is wrong in a public school, as is teaching an unproven theory as scientific truth. Give the whole thing a rest and teach the children things that really matter!

I wish that our state legislators would do the same. The United States is a secular nation, where people have the right to practice their religion as they see fit. It should not be taught in public schools.

Only if contrasting stories of creation were taught such as the Six Nations or Hopi, would I find it acceptable. All of the stories are beauthiful tales.

I find the responses so far quite frightening. They suggest a lack of understanding about what a theory is and a lack of regard for the constitutional division between church (or religion) and state. Creationism is a religious belief. As such, it cannot be proven or dis-proven. It can be discussed as a wide-spread religious belief, but not as an alternative scientific theory. Evolution is a scientific theory with a good deal of evidence to support it.
Theories are to be proven or dis-proven with evidence or refined as evidence shows the weakness of the theory.

Teaching about religious beliefs is the responsibility of religious groups. Teaching scientific theories is the responsibility of the schools. I would like to keep it that way. I believe it was the genius of our founding fathers that the constitution requires it.

I feel that teachers should be required to present the compelling arguments for and against evolution and creation. It can easily be argued that teaching evolutionary theory is a religious dogma of atheism and promoting one theory as scientific fact is blatant indoctrination. The bottom line is that most school systems do everything they can to keep students from talking about God (or a supreme being). If our schools' efforts to promote tolerance would prepare teachers to facilitate open and healthy respect of various viewpoints, INCLUDING those of Christian conservatives, this wouldn't be such a contentious issue. Creationism would be seen as another healthy respected (and scientific) viewpoint, that not everyone shares. Students would definitely benefit from the scientific research found at these websites: www.icr.org, www.answersingenesis.org, www.creationresearch.org. It's interesting...you don't hear creationists legislating that only creationism should be taught in schools, but evolutionists continue to try to ban an alternate viewpoint from being allowed. What are they afraid of?

There are a variety of "theories" about how the world came into being. One is evolution. One is creationism. When I was in school (many moons ago), it was common practice to learn a variety of theories in a number of different areas of learning, science being just one of them. If our goal is to teach children to think for themselves, you must give them things to think about. Teach all the theories and let children become thoughtful learners

As a Christian, I understand that people on different sides of an issue can get quite heated and irrational. To me "imposing religious dogma" is quite different from having the freedom to teach children what the Bible says. I found this quote quiute interesting: "It added that denying pupils knowledge of theories like evolution was 'totally against children's educational interests'" My experience in a variety of Christian schools is that pupils are taught about both the theory of evolution and creationism. It is only in secular schools (and, granted, some radical, fundamentalist schools) that "denying pupils knowledge" of opposing views occurs. It seems to me that opportunities to study and discuss religious perspectives would be more in children's best educational interests.

The answer to this debate is very simple, teach neither. The question of “Why are we here?” is such a controversial issue that it should not be handled by educators. Most educators would argue that they are not trying to answer “Why are we here?” but they are just trying to present the scientific facts. In a book I’ve read called “How Now Shall We Live” there is strong scientific evidence against evolutionary creation. Here is the answer: please teach my child about evolution as it pertains to changes in species, environmental adaptation, etc. but not as a creation theory. However, I doubt that some educators would agree to this because evolutionary creation is their religion and they cannot part with it just as I cannot part with my belief in a single creator.

We tend to find so many ways to divide ourselves. Yet another touchstone issue of right vs wrong that only manages to gray everything. As a believer, I'm directed to show my faith in deeds, not impose it on others. Pray that we wake up in time, before we destroy ourselves through in tolerance turned to hatred.

I firmly believe that children should be taught about both theories. Niether one has any absolute scientific proof that it is indeed fact. If we are going to teach theory, we should teach it as a theory. I grew up believing in evolutionary principles as facts because no one ever presented any other option. We are so concerned with diversity training and acceptance, yet we refuse to even offer a diverse alternitive to evolution.
The article states that creation is an American phenomina? What did they teach in England before Darwin? Many of America's theologins came from Europe because they did not have the freedom to express their diverse thoughts on religion. Now the Europeans are stating that they are more forward thinking? I'm sorry, but I don't buy it.

I have never understood why people feel threatened by the exposure of children to different concepts, thoughts and theories. My children were taught both theories as "theory". I personally believe that all things were created by God. However, that was not something I taught to my children as an absolute. They needed to make that decision by themselves. If they just parroted my beliefs, then they were still that, 'my beliefs'. Give children all the facts and theories. Let them choose for themselves. Censorship is never a good thing.

The truth of the matter is that the beging of mankind is like a candle that has been lite at both ends, unless you were there to see how long the candle was at the begining then you could never tell how big the candle was. Every man is a theologian. We all use are faith to belive in which ever theory we choose. The only thing that will keep us civil is beliving in the right of everyone having an opinon and the freedom to belive in the god of thier choice. A closed mind only leads to being controled and dictated to by others. We surrender our freedom willingly as human beings thinking that it makes our lives easier. That is the lie we belive. I belive both theory's should be taught since that is what they are and let every free man decide for himself. I personly belive in the GOD of the bible and that I will pass from life to life as written in the scriptures. If these wise men are right the I have nothing to lose. But what if the bible is right. Then the only thing they have to loose is their soul.