essay

 “Suppose you are accused of a murder and you have overwhelming evidence to prove that you were 3,000 miles away from the scene of the crime when the murder was committed.  But the prosecutor ignores this rational evidence, and claims that you made yourself invisible, flew at the speed of light to commit the murder 3,000 miles away, and returned an instant later. How could you defend yourself? Could you prove that you did not have these powers? No—it is impossible to prove or disprove something outside the realm of rational investigation” (Demere and Walsh). For as long as the human consciousness stretches, schools have always taught their pupils that all of the known Earth was created by a divine being. This ‘creationism’ was considered the un-challenged truth until somewhat recently. Charles Darwin and his radical theory of evolution have become widely accepted by the scientific community. Should schools be allowed to teach this theory, or must they teach the righteousness of the literal interpretations of one religion even though public school students do not usually belong to just one religion? Creationism does not belong in the diverse world of public school. Ever since Darwin’s theory of evolution became accepted as more than a joke it has endured an uphill battle against the wider ranged and more established so-called creationists. Although there are many different religions, schools mainly taught creationism from Bible standpoint. At first evolution was completely unaccepted, but as scientific discoveries exponentially increased several discrepancies formed that divided creationist law- that took religious texts completely literally- from accepted scientific facts. For example, creationists believe that the Earth is only 6,000 years old. This //does// happen in schools. A quote from Henry Morris’ textbook for //public school,// __Scientific Creationism__ states, “It is precisely because Biblical revelation is absolutely authoritative and perspicuous that the scientific fats, rightly interpreted, will give the same testimony as the facts of science can contradict the Bible. There is not the slightest possibility that the facts of science can contradict the Bible.” Not only is creationism still alive and kicking, it is lobbying nation-wide to be taught in public schools, as the textbook’s name proves. Creationists fight by saying that evolution is a theory- and thus not true- and the Bible is fact because it cannot be disproven. Evolution became a theory- not a hypothesis, which is an educated guess- because it can be proved, and is the best choice for the origin of species. Is it right for kids born in the information age to be taught that overtly literal explanations of religious texts trump any scientific facts? If it is not, then how is creationists denouncing evolution as fallacy and campaigning for the replacement of its place in public school science classes with creationism right?