Evolutionary theory is considered to be the backbone of modern biology, and understanding the process of evolution puts all other elements of biology into a unified perspective. However, no matter how much evidence a science textbook can cite for the validity of evolution, one almost always encounters the phrase “evolution is just a theory.” A scientific theory is not someone's vague hunch, but a complex and flexible explanation based on repeatedly tested data—not to mention accepted by the majority of the scientific community. Evolution is a theory, and the misuse of scientific terminology in the classroom can influence our impressions of the theory.
Creationism, Creation Science, and Intelligent Design, on the other hand, are not theories. The claim that both evolution and creationism are theories on the origin of life is simply not correct, no matter your conviction. Science has a specific and distinct process that religion lacks: falsifiable hypotheses and questions are tested, proven or disproven, and combined in order to create a composite picture of the universe. Creationism offers no testable predictions, has no verifiable evidence to support its claims, and is not falsifiable—it did not undergo the due processes of a scientific theory, and contains none of its attributes. This is not so much a comment on the fact that Creationism is wrong so much as it is a comment on the fact that it is not science. To teach unscientific ideas as equals to an accepted scientific theory is to degrade the integrity of a scientific theory and remove the meaning from our scientific method.
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To teach creationism as science is not only dishonest, but dangerous for our minds and for society. I agree with the Christian biologist Kenneth Miller when he states that ignoring or discarding scientific evidence is “dangerous in the intellectual and even in the moral sense because [it] corrupts and compromises the integrity of human reason” (from his book Finding Darwin’s God). If we start to discard or belittle the accepted and repeated findings of science, if we cannot accept our deductions that all species change over time, we are forced to call into question our ability to deduce that the Earth orbits the sun, that the sky is blue because of the wavelengths that make it through the components of our atmosphere, and other everyday “theories” that the vast majority of humans accept. By determining which science is true or not based on popular belief systems forces humans to discard all of science's findings, for if the scientific method cannot be trusted when it comes to evolution, it cannot be trusted with anything else.
The beliefs of creationism, however, are not as dangerous as the deep conviction with which they are held. Both religion and science may seek to explain how the universe came to be and how the universe functions, but fundamentalist religion approaches truth from a dangerously rigid and unwavering certainty. In the words of Carl Sagan: “Science is more than a body of knowledge; it's a way of thinking, a way of skeptically interrogating the universe” and that way of thinking gets passed down through scientific education as well as the body of knowledge. Science constantly changes based on a constant input of evidence. If geneticists, paleontologists, or biologists were to discover new evidence that contradicted the theory of evolution as a whole, the scientific community would have no choice but to abandon the theory—and the fact that all of our evidence only supports evolution is testament to it's greatness and accuracy. We know what it would take to change our minds, and we are open and willing to the possibility that we might be wrong.
Additionally, science teaches us that it is okay not to know all of the answers, and instills in us a curiosity to seek those answers. Absolute knowledge of the universe will always elude us; there will always be mysteries to solve, and as much as scientific theories like evolution excite me the mysteries yet to be solved thrill me even more. By teaching students the pure beauty of the universe we will not only have a generation of knowledgeable citizens, but a generation of keen and curious scientists not content with the answers told to them by their politicians or their preachers. What the world needs are people capable of critical skepticism, whether those people follow the teachings of Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, or any other spiritual leader. Religion and science are not mutually exclusive as long as religion is taught with a healthy dose of critical thinking, and science is taught without qualifications or footnotes to creationism.
Throughout our path toward understanding the universe we prescribed gods for certain incomprehensible phenomena. Apollo used to carry the sun across the sky on his chariot, and once upon a time God created humans in present form on the 6th day of the universe. While we cannot comment on the existence of a god or gods, today we know beyond reasonable doubt that the Earth revolves around the sun and that Humans have evolved from single-celled organisms. These scientific overturns do not come easily, however, and fundamentalism rarely releases its hold without a fight; but it is a fight that we must continue until all students have the right to scientific education without the religious filter that still permeates our school systems.
