Creationism
I was reading the latest issue of Scientific American and came across an article regarding the continued debate of evolution versus creationism (The Latest Face of Creationism in the Classroom, Scientific American, January 2009) and how various states such as Louisiana are putting forward bills which will require schools to teach, in some way or another, intelligent design as a scientifically acceptable alternative to evolution. This detailed and to the point article got me thinking about the education I had growing up and the mixed information presented at a very impressionable age.
Eight years of Catholic grade school and two years of Catholic high school, I heard both sides of the story. Students have the biblical lessons that God created all life on Earth and that it took only six days then, two hours later, they are taught that the universe was created from a super-dense singularity that rapidly expanded causing what we know as The Big Bang. There are two completely differing idealsthe whole evolution versus creationismthat states are trying to force public schools to teach. Its abhorrently wrong!
First and most important, I believe that over the past five million years weve evolved from chimpanzees. Why do I believe this? DNA testing has proven that enough similarities between chimpanzees and humans exist that the only conclusion to be made is that evolution made us who we are today. Second, if God put us on this earth only five or six thousand years ago, why do we have skulls carbon dated to 300,000 years ago and denote homo sapien facial structures of which we know of ourselves today? Finally, why do we keep evolving if evolution isnt to blame for why we are here today?
Children live in a confused state and when they are fed two differing views on a subject, theyll look to their parents as guides. If a parent is an overly religious creationist, all questions will be answered with a God-like backing. If, on the other hand, the parents are overly scientific, all questions will be answered very evolutionary. Both extremes are not the answer. The answer should be in the handling and discussion we do with our children. For example, I believe that something started The Big Bang and likely, it was a higher power. Does this mean Im a creationist? Maybe or maybe not, but I definitely believe that something beyond a scientific reasoning started it all. Will I explain my views to my children? Yes, I will, but I will also allow them to make their own opinions about the subject.
Eight years of Catholic grade school and two years of Catholic high school, I heard both sides of the story. Students have the biblical lessons that God created all life on Earth and that it took only six days then, two hours later, they are taught that the universe was created from a super-dense singularity that rapidly expanded causing what we know as The Big Bang. There are two completely differing idealsthe whole evolution versus creationismthat states are trying to force public schools to teach. Its abhorrently wrong!
First and most important, I believe that over the past five million years weve evolved from chimpanzees. Why do I believe this? DNA testing has proven that enough similarities between chimpanzees and humans exist that the only conclusion to be made is that evolution made us who we are today. Second, if God put us on this earth only five or six thousand years ago, why do we have skulls carbon dated to 300,000 years ago and denote homo sapien facial structures of which we know of ourselves today? Finally, why do we keep evolving if evolution isnt to blame for why we are here today?
Children live in a confused state and when they are fed two differing views on a subject, theyll look to their parents as guides. If a parent is an overly religious creationist, all questions will be answered with a God-like backing. If, on the other hand, the parents are overly scientific, all questions will be answered very evolutionary. Both extremes are not the answer. The answer should be in the handling and discussion we do with our children. For example, I believe that something started The Big Bang and likely, it was a higher power. Does this mean Im a creationist? Maybe or maybe not, but I definitely believe that something beyond a scientific reasoning started it all. Will I explain my views to my children? Yes, I will, but I will also allow them to make their own opinions about the subject.