You do *not* have to believe in Darwin's theory of evolution. You don't have to believe that it explains the creation of the universe, or us.
You do, however, as a student, and a citizen of the world, have to understand how the theory works, and how it explains how life evolves *now* -- which is why we can't use last year's flu vaccine this year, because viruses evolve. Because life evolves.
Darwin's theory is not a replacement of Genesis 1 or 2. It explains how life works now. It has ZERO to do with how we got here in the first place. You can believe that it explains how life got here, using Darwin -- or you can not believe it. That's what freedom of belief in the U.S.A. affords us all. But you still have to learn that evolution works and how it works, and that is why we have to learn it in science classes.
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2 comments:
This was originally part of my response to the "Paul Harvey" essay. Upon reflection, the paragraph stands better by itself, and detracts from the impact of the original. Minimal edits made for flow, none for content. [2007 prefatory comment]
Other comments from the 2007 post:
Natasha Rene'e
Very well stated. I honestly think people tend to over react. It's fine to be religious and to believe in your religion's creation theory. I think it's just plain ignorant to ignore scientific evidence of evolution. I honestly don't understand all the fuss. I mean I really don't see a reason why they can't just institute a cultural anthropology class in high school and teach a whole unit on creation theories. Then leave evolution theories to biology and science classes. I think once you take the conflict out of it, evolution is a fascinating subject that would be of interest to many students.
Pittsburgh Storm
I believe in Genesis and that God created us. I also believe that God has designed all of his creatures to adjust or "evolve" to survive in their environments.
Stuart Strickland
It's fine to believe that. My quarrel is with those who object to the teaching of evolution on religious grounds.
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