Tennessee becomes the second state to allow Creationism debates in the classroom

Tonight at dinner one of my sons brought up a recent Tennessee law which allows students to discuss creationism or intelligent design in the classroom during instruction about evolution.  The law provides protections for teachers who engage in debates with students about non-scientific origin theories.  Governor Haslam did not sign the legislation, but did permit the bill to become law without his signature last week.

I found the discussion between my older sons to be very interesting.  My older boys are 15 and 13, with the older being a high school freshman studying for his Biology finals and the younger being a seventh grader.  My younger son started the conversation, and said he was happy about the law because now he could talk about his belief in creation as the Bible describes it.  My older son immediately replied that evolution, or more specifically the theory of natural selection, was the best explanation for the origin of life.  He went on to say the Bible doesn’t give enough information.

Being a graduate of Liberty University (a Christian university that teaches creation studies), I took Biology taught with a balanced comparison of evolution theory versus creation as described by the Bible.  I countered my older son and challenged him to tell me what information the Bible was deficient in giving.  He cited carbon dating disproves the Bibles timing and how natural selection proves that the stronger species survive and get to reproduce.  Without going into gross detail, I was able to counter his claims by asking where the fossil evidence was to prove the claims of macro evolution, or why the animals which stronger species came from still exist and are able to continue reproducing. 

My response to him is the same I want to bring up here about this new law.  True academic debate about metaphysical issues such as origin theories should not be one sided.  Science in its purist form cannot use its own methodology to prove the theory of evolution using repeatable experiments.  Hypothesis’s regarding evolution theories require presuppositions, just as creation based theories do.  In short, one needs some sort of faith to believe either theory.  Teaching only evolution theory in the classroom does not support open education.  In my humble opinion, teaching only evolution serves to eliminate faith from the minds of the next generation.

Quoting Reuters, “Brenda Ekwurzel of the Union of Concerned Scientists saw a risk to education: ‘We need to keep kids' curiosity about science alive and not limit their ability to understand the world around them by exposing them to misinformation.’”  Ironically, children are taught evolution theory as an absolute truth, despite the fact that it has never been accepted by the scientific community as anything more than an unproven theory.  Which is the greater misinformation?  Turning a blind eye and muting the valid metaphysical arguments presented by intelligent design and creationism, or touting evolution as the only true and valid explanation for creation?

 I am Christian, as I have said in this blog several times before, so perhaps I am biased.  The theories of evolution are less than 200 or so years old.  They were created by scientists and philosophers whose main goal was to disprove the existence of God.  These same scientists and philosophers were also largely responsible for the rise of existential secular humanistic thinking in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. These theories remain almost completely unproven, and use what a court of law would call circumstantial evidence to support their assertions. 

To accept these theories as fact, to teach them to our children without explaining the complete history of the people behind the theories, to not teach the shortcomings of the research needed to prove them into scientific law, and to not discuss alternative possibilities is an abuse of the educational system.  I think it further proves the goal of modern public education is not to teach young minds to think, but to push a one-sided liberal agenda onto them with as little resistance as possible.

The history recorded in the Bible spans approximately 6,000 years.  It was written under divine inspiration by 40 different men and women, across a period of 1,500 years and at least several thousand miles of physical terrain.  The oldest written copies of the Bible confirm the words we read today in our modern Bibles are largely the same as those written in those old codices.  The story hasn’t changed.  It stands up to the strongest academic research for veracity and historical integrity.  Its information is credible and holds up in strong debate. 

What is the purpose of denying our children the right to learn alternatives to a man made theory?  Simple – if the Bible is true then secular humanity can be proven wrong.  Situational ethics must give way to morality and the presuppositions of the enlightened, liberal agendas would be questioned.  It is much easier to control a people if you control the information they are given, and their ability to process that information. 

All this said, I think our teachers do a great job teaching children.  Most teachers I know have only the best of intentions in their hearts with respect to helping young minds learn and grow.  I applaud this new law because I think it gives teachers the ability to really teach children, without being hampered in what they can and cannot talk about in the classroom.  I just sincerely hope free debate occurs in all of our nation’s classrooms, before it is too late.

As always, your thoughts and comments are welcome!