Evolution And Creation
Evolution versus creation has been a debate lasting decades upon decades
in the
United States and around the world. The mock trial held during
class, however,
was not to prove one view as right and the other wrong.
Rather, the focus of the
trial, from the view of the prosecution, was simply
to prove that creation
should not be taught as a science in schools. The
prosecution and the defense
were each allowed four witnesses. A fifth grade
science teacher, a preacher, a
world religions professor, and Dawkins were
called to the stand by the
prosecution. My part in the trial was that of the
preacher. Our argument was
simple; the preacher believed creation to be true,
of course, but did not see
how creation could be taught as a science.
Instead, the view of creation should
be a part of a religion or philosophy
class. According to the scientific method,
a true scientific hypothesis or
theory about anything must be able to be proven
false. "There is a very
important characteristic of a scientific theory or
hypothesis, which
differentiates it from, for example, an act of faith: it must
be
'falsifiable'. This means that there must be some experiment or
possible
discovery that could prove the theory untrue" (Wudka 2). If there is
no way
to disprove something, it can not be classified as a science. In
addition, a
true science must be reproducible. According to Behe, origin of
life scientists
have created life using the same conditions that would have
existed on the early
earth. It is impossible, however, to duplicate creation.
In addition to the
argument of testability, creation should not be taught as
a science because it
goes against the rulings of the federal government. In
1987, in a case known as
Edwards versus Aguillard, the U.S. Supreme Court
held unconstitutional
Louisiana's 'Creationism Act.' The Creationism Act
stated that evolution could
only be taught when it was accompanied by the
teaching of creation. "The
Court found that, by advancing the religious
belief that a supernatural being
created humankind, which is embraced by the
term creation science, the act
impermissibly endorses religion" (Court
Decisions). As a result, the Court
decided that a comprehensive science
education could not be received unless
evolution, without creation, existed
in the class syllabus. Long ago, the
government decided that a separation of
church and state should exist. The
prosecution reasoned that since "everyone
must submit himself to the
governing authorities, for there is no authority
except that which God has
established. The authorities that exist have been
established by God"
(Romans 13:1). As Christians, we should accept what the
authorities tell us,
since that is what God commanded. Therefore, creation
should not be taught as a
science in school. Creation, however, should not be
completely written out of a
child's education. "All Scripture is God-breathed
and is useful for
teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in
righteousness" (2 Timothy
3:16). A religion or philosophy class should
insert the teachings of creation
into their curriculum. If this method is
adopted, then the views of creation
would not be forced upon students.
Forcing religion on people rarely benefits
anyone. "For the time will come
when men will not put up with sound
doctrine. Instead, to suit their own
desires, they will gather around them a
great number of teachers to say what
their itching ears want to hear. They will
turn their ears away from the
truth and turn aside to myths" (2 Timothy
2:3-4). According to the basic
point of the scientific method, creation is not a
science because it can not
be proved false. Not only is creation not testable,
but according to the
United States Supreme Court, creation should be kept out of
the science
class. The Bible tells us to obey figures of authority; therefore,
the
argument seems null and void. Without question, creation's place is in
a
religion or philosophy classroom.
Bibliography
"Background: Six
Significant Court Decisions Regarding
Evolution/Creation Issues."
http://www.cs.colorado.edu/~lindsay/creation/voices/legal/bkgrd.
htm Behe,
Michael J. Darwin's Black Box. Romans 13:1. "Bible
Gateway."
http://bible.gospelcom.net/ 2 Timothy 4:2-4. "Bible Gateway."
http://bible.gospelcom.net/
Wudka, Jose. "What is the 'scientific
method'?" http://rom.pomona.edu/scien_method/node6.html