Intelligent Design Has No Place In The Classroom
Robert Paul Reyes
November 07, 2005
Evangelical Christians are not content to teach their sometimes esoteric doctrines in their churches and private schools, they want to invade the public realm with their myths and superstitions.
In our public schools children should learn "reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic", they should not be indoctrinated in religious beliefs.
Even most Christians agree that fundamentalist doctrines like the Deity of Jesus Christ and his Virgin Birth should not be taught in public schools, but for some reason they believe that it's OK for the Biblical account of creation, disguised as "Intelligent Design" (ID) to be promulgated to our impressionable youngsters.
A legal battle is currently raging over whether it is constitutional to teach the creed of ID in public science classrooms. Should religion be taught in a science class, sounds like a no-brainer, but when it comes to spreading their faith, some Christians are insensitive, intolerant and brain-dead.
The controversy erupted when the school board in Dover, Pennsylvania, mandated science teachers to read a 4-paragraph disclaimer that mentions ID as an alternative to evolution as an explanation for biological origins.
If Pennsylvania is requiring science school teachers to mention ID as a viable alternative to the theory of evolution, they might as well ask the teachers to trade in their khakis and dress shirts for priestly garb.
Why not require the science teachers to mention other non-Christian creation myths? The Iroquois creation fable teaches that life began on the back of a huge turtle, why not invoke that story as an alternative to evolution?
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has once again come to the rescue, and has filed a lawsuit to ban the disclaimer, and intelligent design, from Dover classrooms.
When religion rears its pernicious head in public schools, common sense, understanding and tolerance fly out the window.
If fundamentalist Christians want to preach homophobia and creationism, that is their right, but it should be done from church pulpits not in classrooms.
In our public schools children should learn "reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic", they should not be indoctrinated in religious beliefs.
Even most Christians agree that fundamentalist doctrines like the Deity of Jesus Christ and his Virgin Birth should not be taught in public schools, but for some reason they believe that it's OK for the Biblical account of creation, disguised as "Intelligent Design" (ID) to be promulgated to our impressionable youngsters.
A legal battle is currently raging over whether it is constitutional to teach the creed of ID in public science classrooms. Should religion be taught in a science class, sounds like a no-brainer, but when it comes to spreading their faith, some Christians are insensitive, intolerant and brain-dead.
The controversy erupted when the school board in Dover, Pennsylvania, mandated science teachers to read a 4-paragraph disclaimer that mentions ID as an alternative to evolution as an explanation for biological origins.
If Pennsylvania is requiring science school teachers to mention ID as a viable alternative to the theory of evolution, they might as well ask the teachers to trade in their khakis and dress shirts for priestly garb.
Why not require the science teachers to mention other non-Christian creation myths? The Iroquois creation fable teaches that life began on the back of a huge turtle, why not invoke that story as an alternative to evolution?
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has once again come to the rescue, and has filed a lawsuit to ban the disclaimer, and intelligent design, from Dover classrooms.
When religion rears its pernicious head in public schools, common sense, understanding and tolerance fly out the window.
If fundamentalist Christians want to preach homophobia and creationism, that is their right, but it should be done from church pulpits not in classrooms.
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