Creationism In Public Schools Essay

Creationism has long been ruled out of public education and science. Creationists reject most of modern science in favor of a literal reading of the Bible. They believe that the Earth is less than 10,000 years old and God created everything fully formed (including humans). People in opposition against Intelligent Design think that in the eyes of creationists, the so called “intelligent designer” is God. Meanwhile, Darwin's Theory of Evolution is the widely held notion that all life is related and has descended from a common ancestor. Once Darwin had proposed that the natural processes could have produced every species on this planet, including humans, the creationists felt that this theory took God out of the picture. Centuries later, like many people in Dover, many people in the US agree. Somewhere between a third and half the US population doesn’t accept

I believe that the state should not tell people what to believe. Everyone has their own mind and they have the right to believe what they want to believe. I see nothing wrong with teachers teaching about Darwinism or Creationism. I think that everyone should be educated on both matters. There is nothing wrong with knowing information about both subjects, and believing or not believing in them. It is the job of teachers to educate the students on people’s ideas and findings from their research. Once a teacher is telling students what they should or shouldn't do then it is a problem. In the movie, Inherit the Wind, there are many instances where I believe that Bert Cates should not have been found guilty for educating his students on the

The question as to whether or not creationism should be taught in public schools is a very emotional and complex question. It can be looked at from several different angles, its validity being one of them. Despite the lack of evidence to support the fundamentalist idea of creationism, that in itself is not enough to warrant its exclusion from the curriculum of public schools in the United States. The question is far more involved and complex.

The debate over teaching evolution in public schools is not new at all but the debate has been elevated through the media over the past few years. Conservative Christians and other conservatives serving on school boards (particularly in the South) have been insisting that if schools are going to buy textbooks that have evolution chapters then they should also have a place in that textbook near the evolution chapter for creationism. Progressives and scholars that understand the scientific basis for evolution argue that there's nothing wrong with putting creationism or "intelligent design" in textbooks but that subject is not science-based and therefore should be published in the "religion" chapter (if there is one). Should evolution be taught in public schools? The answer is yes, most certainly; to ignore evolution is to deprive public school students of some of the most important knowledge relating to our planet and our society. Scientific ignorance is unacceptable in a country that calls itself the "greatest nation on earth."

Creationism is a religious based theory that God created heaven and earth in six days, created man in his own image, and on the seventh day he rested. If this theory is true, that would be quite an accomplishment. This could be the reason why people that believe in creationism believe that God is all powerful. Yet, God is the reason that creationism is not allowed to be taught in public schools. The First Amendment to the

I think if science continues to advance, there will never be peace between it, and creationism. I believe so because it will continually defy each other and never become something that can be taught together and make sense. I also believe that the tax-payers should be the ones to make the decision of what curriculum should be taught in schools. Their money is being sent to these schools and many of them send their children to them. Therefore, I feel they should have a say in what their children should be taught outside of their

Throughout the class discussion I found it appalling that around 15% of my classmates were believers in Creationism. Whether their beliefs were due to religion, or a lack of schooling in biology an underlying factor such

IN fact, during the Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District case, it was found that it is “unconstitutional for a Pennsylvania school district to present intelligent design as an alternative to evolution in high school biology courses because it is a religious viewpoint that advances ‘a particular version of Christianity,’” (Goodstein 1) And what is more, it is morally wrong to teach a science that we know to be false to the future generations of our country. Many people argue that Evolution is “just a theory” and “has large gaps” while failing to realize that a scientific theory is considered valid fact, especially when it is as broadly accepted as Evolution. Furthermore, the theory of Evolution has physical evidence, regardless of how Creationists like to interpret it, which is more than can be said for Intelligent Design. Fossil records, carbon dating, rock superposition, and DNA relations are all superb and examples, to name only a few. Many other Creationists would argue that it is “unfair” to teach one theory and not the other. Besides the obvious constitutional problems and the problem with Intelligent Design being deemed an illegitimate science, this statement is still a tough pill to swallow. Essentially, these people are saying that regardless of one’s religious beliefs, all students need to be

I firmly believe that creationism should have equal representation as evolution in public schools. As I’ve said, creation doesn’t have complete scientific fact backing it up, but if almost half of Americans claim to agree with it, creationism should be taught alongside of evolution in the schools. Decide for yourself: should schools today be welcoming differing ideas and healthy debate, or are educators shutting out valid theories and

Whenever creationism or intelligent design has been brought into public schools, the courts have found it unconstitutional. Creationism is considered to be religion, not science. Teaching it in schools violates the separation of church and state which violate the First Amendment of the Constitution. This means that public schools are prohibited from promoting religion or religious beliefs. Religious explanations of creation cannot be part of the public school science curriculum. It is illegal to teach anything that contradicts the bible. The fundamentalist values are the bible is the literal truth of creation, religion stands against science, faith is more valuable than science and taxpayers should decide how their children are taught and

Personally, I believe that when studying science that evidence of the glory of the Lord is going to prevail. As stated in Genesis, the Lord created everything thing we see, smell, feel, taste, and hear in six days; therefore, while studying science we are really studying God. If creation science is taught to children starting in the early years of school, they will have a better understanding of the glory of the Lord even at a young age. Logically speaking, creationism should be taught in schools if you wish students to learn about the glory of God. Because I strongly believe that creationism should be taught in all levels of education, I chose to attend Lee University and take Physical Science. Throughout this semester, I hope develop a better

The creationism that is taught in public schools is almost always pulled out of the Bible, positioning the teacher as a ‘defender of the Christian faith’ while anyone that disagrees would be labeled as a ‘godless evolutionist’. This singles out Christianity from all other religious sects and privileges a single viewpoint. Unfortunately, if we decided to turn a science class into a warzone of different religions battling each other out for supremacy, we would be violating the First Amendment. Since the First Amendment forbids the government from establishing or preferring a specific religion over another, that would mean that creationism, a sectarian religious view, cannot be given preferential treatment by any government body, including public schools. An excerpt from the Supreme Court ruling of Epperson v. Arkansas (1968) states: “Government in our democracy, state and national, must be neutral in matters of religious theory, doctrine, and practice. It may not be hostile to any religion or to the advocacy of non-religion, and it may not aid, foster, or promote one religion or religious theory against another or even against the militant opposite.” The aforementioned ruling invalidated an Arkansas statute that prohibited the teaching of evolution. The First Amendment to the U.S Constitution disallows a state to require teaching and learning to be tailored to the beliefs of a specific

In an article published in the New York times, by Laurie Goodstein, she revealed that a poll conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life and the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, revealed that 64 percent said they were open to the idea of teaching creationism in addition to evolution, while 38 percent favored replacing evolution with creationism. It is important to note by this poll that the idea of teaching our children other theories of how this world was created was supported by more than half of the polled population. It needs to be understood that when these teachings are given the opportunity to be introduced in the public school settings, teachers must maintain a very bias approach as to not sway their students into believing one side or the other but, rather let them decide for themselves through research and study what they will believe in.

Creationism is a religious metaphysical theory about the origin of the universe. It is not a scientific theory. Technically, creationism is not necessarily connected to any particular religion. It simply requires a belief in a Creator. Millions of Christians and non-Christians believe there is a Creator of the universe and that scientific theories such as the the theory of evolution do not conflict with belief in a Creator. However, fundamentalist Christians such as Ronald Reagan and Jerry Falwell, have co-opted the term 'creationism' and it is now difficult to refer to creationism without being understood as referring to fundamentalist Christians who (a) take the stories in Genesis as accurate accounts of the origin of the universe and

Creationism being taught in public schools is not right because there are many beliefs about how the earth was created. Many science teachers have different beliefs on this particular subject. Some believe it should not be taught in public schools but on one’s own time at home, church, or another place. Other science teachers think students should be taught all the believable theories about evolution and creationism. Some science teachers have gotten in trouble with the law by not obeying other laws regarding evolution and creationism. This has lead to a lot of controversy in the science world. Even though many students have different views on creationism, not all of them are very accurate in the ways they portray the teachings of