I grew up with a fundamentalist understanding of our origins. The Earth was created in 6 days, Adam and Eve were the stars of the show and Genesis was a historical book. Since my junior year of college I have had my doubts about literal creationism and have made my peace with my faith and evolution since. This is one of those issues that divides people; it is on the same playing field as abortion and the death penalty. Our public schools have been in the crossfires of this debate and I have a few thoughts and observations.
When I look at the debates between the Evolution and anti-Evolution camps, they are both trying to prove their side is right. In the schools Evolution would be taught as a theory, just as Intelligent Design should also be taught as. I believe that the schools should provide an education of depth and quality over a small range of core ideas or concepts. Evolution is one of the most influential and controversial ideas of the 20th century. A working knowledge of the idea and its implications are as fundamental as an understanding of Mozart or geometrical theorems.
Present Intelligent Design and Evolution side by side in class and have the students debate it out themselves. What a great way to teach civil disagreement, logical argumentation, and public speaking. I say let evolution in the classroom along with other alternatives and let the students decide as their minds expand and mature.
Random Observations about this debate:
- The Christians who so vehemently fight against all things evolution seem to have promoted our origins to a central tenet of the faith. Jesus' work is at the core of what Christians believe, not our origins. I don't see how evolution disrupts Christ's work.
- If students were able to pit the science of Intelligent Design and Evolution against each other they would be getting more exposure to the last 100 years of science in a way that I never did.
What are your thoughts?
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