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Why is evolution taught in our schools?

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Bungle_Bear

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@DogmaHunter has done a great job of showing the error of this line of thought. I'd like to ask one more thing - which view of creationism do you think should be taught as the opposite view of evolution? My guess is you think it should be your fundamentalist Christian view. But why? And which Christian creationist view (young earth, old earth, gap etc)? Why not Hindu, Islamic, Bahai or Jewish creationism?
 
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Colter

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Evolutionism is a science, its factual. There is lots of physical evidence. YEC is a religion, if they taught that they wouldn't have any evidence to present. They would just take the kids to the AIG museum. The smart kids would just fake a migraine that day!
 
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AV1611VET

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But it's okay for you to tour the Holy Land, isn't it?
 
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ThatRobGuy

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Why is it taught in our schools? I figured everyone knew the answer to that already. The theory of evolution is in the realm of science (and has some pretty solid evidence to support it) and one of the core parts of a school's curriculum is science.

...it's kind of like asking "Why is WW2 taught in history class?" It's a question with a self-explanatory answer.
 
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hopperace

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"Why is evolution taught in our schools?"

Yeah, as has been explained, the issue is with the U.S. Supreme Court justices' decisions, specifically as pertaining to the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S, Constitution. It's erroneously thought, imo, and now established as legal precedence that any teaching of a personable or intelligent creation origin violates one part of the 1st Amendment (EC) over against another part of the 1st Amendment (FEC).


Unfortunately, during the High Middle Ages of Western civilisation, theology and philosophy began to get divorced from what had previously been considered science. The short version of a TL;DR is that evolutionary theory (which doesn't consistently speak to origins) is judicially (presently) considered science over and against most other creation assertions that are considered exclusively religious.

This, oddly, again imo, does not account for the fluctuation in paradigms of both evolutionary theory and science overall. For example, racism was once almost universally purported as scientific truth within the ruling scientific paradigm. Of course, by-and-large that thankfully is no longer the prevailing paradigm. Scientific paradigms are ALWAYS shifting interpretations. BUT, science is nonetheless considered outside the purview over and against what is more clearly considered religious per U.S. judicial dictate. Even though there are temples of science, even of differing flavours (just like Protestants and Catholics of religions), the U.S. Supreme Court has yet to recognise a worship of particular scientific paradigms on a consistent order of comparison with the "religion" of the 1st Amendment. One has to reflect on clashing scientific paradigms, as e.g. evidenced in The Big Bang Theory (both the scientific construct and the television sit-com show) to grasp the religious nature of science itself, though this usually really peeves off some "scientists". It's perhaps confusing (though otherwise helpful for some), but Western philosophy and epistemological constructs have preferred neat little compartmentalisation and categorical segregation of scholarship. Thus, today, the Western scientific paradigm is that theology is divorced from science, where once theology was considered the "queen of the sciences".

The bottom line is that as long as evolutionary theory is judicially thought sanitised from religion, which imo it is not, it will be included in U.S. educational impetus. A better plan, imo, is to consider all theories of origins as outside the purview of establishing any particular religion and certainly allowing for a free exercise of all religions which are not in conflict with other established laws (such as against polygamy, human sacrifice, or a 2-dimensional holographic universe principle theorised in some paradigms of string theory).
 
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AV1611VET

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...it's kind of like asking "Why is WW2 taught in history class?" It's a question with a self-explanatory answer.
Science needs to be taught in science class.

Creationism needs to be taught in history class.

Kicking creationism out of school because it isn't science is like kicking gym class out of school because it isn't home economics.
 
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ThatRobGuy

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Science needs to be taught in science class.

Creationism needs to be taught in history class.

Kicking creationism out of school because it isn't science is like kicking gym class out of school because it isn't home economics.

No, it doesn't...there's no demonstrable, tangible evidence to support creationism, therefore there's nothing to teach. It's a faith-based belief system. By it's very nature, there's not tangible evidence. If there were, then it wouldn't require faith to believe it. (which would kind of defeat the purpose of the whole thing right???)

Just because you accept the bible as 100% infallible evidence (which is your right, I can't stop you from believing that), doesn't mean everyone else does (or even should).

We have constitutional protections against that for a reason...if we allowed everyone to tinker with the public school curriculum based on "this is what my religious text said happened", history class could get rather interesting once everyone injected their own personal religious beliefs into the mix.

History class would quickly turn into a theology class as once Christians did it, other religions would want to do it as well. (and you can't allow one without allowing the other because no taxpayer funded institution can favor one religion over another).


If you want to teach your own child those things or send them to a private school for those things, then that's your call. But it has no place in public school.
 
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AV1611VET

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No, it doesn't...
Yes, it does.
ThatRobGuy said:
... there's no demonstrable, tangible evidence to support creationism,
That is correct.

That's why it's not science ... it is a series of miracles whereby God brought mass and energy into existence, then raised it to its current level over a period of six days.
ThatRobGuy said:
... therefore there's nothing to teach.
What do you call history class?

And as far as "nothing to teach," here's a copy/paste from another thread:

Here's a test I made up:
  1. Explain the difference between creatio ex nihilo and creatio ex materia; and give two examples of each.
  2. Explain the difference between "God" and "LORD God".
  3. Eden in the Bible is known as __________ on a secular map.
  4. The triune Godhead is a violation of what scientific law?
  5. Put the following in order that they appeared in the universe: whales, stars, trees, sun, land, sea, outer space.
  6. What day was Adam created on?
  7. Was the universe created a closed system and, if not, what kind of energy did it run off of? if it was created open, what closed it?
  8. Describe terra aqua and what kind of water it consisted of and why.
  9. Photosynthesis required light from the sun prior to the Fall. true or false?
  10. Explain how a 24-hour day could transpire before the sun was created.
 
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ThatRobGuy

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That is correct.

That's why it's not science ... it is a series of miracles whereby God brought mass and energy into existence, then raised it to its current level over a period of six days.

What do you call history class?

And as far as "nothing to teach," here's a copy/paste from another thread:

The "provable"/"tangible" requirement exists for history class material as well.

It seems that you just want to be able to inject your own personal beliefs into the public school curriculum.
 
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AV1611VET

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The "provable"/"tangible" requirement exists for history class material as well.
Let's see as much evidence for Millard Fillmore being our President as you have for evolution.
ThatRobGuy said:
It seems that you just want to be able to inject your own personal beliefs into the public school curriculum.
You mean like you did, when you said "there's nothing to teach"?
 
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YeshuaFan

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Evolution is taught because the mindset is that there is no need for a God, so fits what into the agenda being pushed by secular education. We should teach both evolution and Intelligent Design in the schools!
 
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xianghua

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That is a stupid idea. Just because there is an alternative explanation for evidence does not remove the fact that it is evidence. So, no, I strongly disagree with that statement, and I doubt it makes any better sense in your native language.
so the similarity between human and chimp is evidence for both common descent and non common descent? it doesnt make sense...
 
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xianghua

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my signature link will show you otherwise.
 
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xianghua

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Why is it taught in our schools? I figured everyone knew the answer to that already. The theory of evolution is in the realm of science

id is also science, and no one teach it at school.
 
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Ophiolite

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so the similarity between human and chimp is evidence for both common descent and non common descent? it doesnt make sense...
No. Pay attention.

Statement 1: Certain observations can be evidence for more than one hypothesis or theory. For example, sea floor spreading was evidence for plate tectonics and for Earth expansion. The eventual victory of plate tectonic theory was because there was much additional evidence supporting it, while other evidence contradicted Earth expansion. This is all very basic stuff.

Statement 2: I see nothing significant about the similarity of human and chimp that is evidence for non-common descent. This is an idea you have which you have failed to support or demonstrate.

Statement 3: If you were able to provide solid support for your speculation then we would have a common situation in science: two competing hypotheses both with supporting evidence. We would then examine other available evidence. There is a wealth of material supporting common descent. There is practically none supporting non-common descent. Consequently the non-common descent hypothesis would be discarded.

Note: I have no idea what you mean by non-common descent. Did you really just mean special creation?
 
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xianghua

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xianghua

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no problem. here are several cars:



(image from Ferrari fanatic selling 8 cars to make room for more)

now...lets say that these cars were able to reproduce like a living creature and may even had DNA. do you think that in this case the best explanation for their similarity will be design rather than common descent?
 
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Halbhh

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it all came from 'nothing' and over billions of years, chaos became order and things started taking shapes. Eventually there were rocks in space, and on some of those rocks came some gases which poofed life somehow, and now here we are.

God can do that.

God created all that is, meaning therefore also the laws of nature too -- physics and chemistry. They are His.

And they work.

What He made works.
 
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