Creationism is a religious belief. It can be taught in classes on comparative religion, or in courses on the history of science, but it can’t be taught as science.
Recently, I stumbled on a blog post that says it better than I ever could. The blogger quoted a Congressman who is running for the Senate in Montana–and who clearly has no freaking idea what a scientific theory is— saying “teach students that there are evolutionary theories, there’s intelligent-design theories, and allow the students to make up their minds.”
And presumably they can also decide for themselves whether the earth goes around the sun…or
We can believe that the earth is balanced on the back of a giant space turtle. After we go to space and take pictures that show no turtle there, however, we can no longer “believe” that with any credibility. We don’t (most of us) suggest that the turtle is simply invisible. We don’t (most of us) say that the turtle only exists when nobody is looking at it. We don’t (most of us) suggest that scientists have spirited the turtle away because they don’t want us to know the truth about the giant space turtle, or that they are involved in the lucrative cash business of pretending there are no turtles in places that there are turtles. We don’t (most of us) do that.
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So we’ve got yet another actual maker of our laws and decider of the rules of our civilization saying that the space turtle theory must be taught, because while there is no actual evidence of the space turtle so far, students whose parents believe in the space turtle must not just be accommodated or treated politely, but given public validation, under rule of law.
We are so screwed.
A few thoughts on teaching creation stories in school (http://blog.wallack.us/2012/02/teaching-creation-myths-may-cause-heads.html) and the need to “teach the controversy” (http://blog.wallack.us/2013/02/teaching-controversy.html). Check out that second post for some great images depicting the controversies to be taught.
Don’t forget the elephants standing on the turtle, holding up the flat earth. At least that’s how fantasy author Terry Pratchett describes things≥
The kidnappers in Nigeria are saying the same thing.
A comment on this very topic was included on a national educational blog two evenings ago, and the commenter, to her surprise, received 240 messages overnight, with some barely civil from Christians and others. It underscores once again why the founding fathers – struggling to unite disparate colonies into one nation – wisely wrote protections into the constitution to keep the state neutral in matters of religion.
The Space Turtle theory clearly cannot be taught since it is not explicitly mentioned in the Bible.
Nancy the Establishment Clause was part of an amendment to our second constittion. They were already states by then. And the Establishment Clause didn’t apply to the states. Several states had official state religions for long after the Establishment Clause was passed.