Why Shouldn’t We Teach Creationism and Evolution in Public Schools?

The recent legislation passed in the State of Oklahoma that allows students and teachers to challenge universally accepted scientific theories of evolution sparked an internal debate in my mind. When I first read about the bill, I thought it would allow the schools to introduce into their curriculum the debate between creationism and evolution.

“Creationism is the religious belief that life, the Earth, and the universe are the creation of a supernatural being”. Whereas, “Evolution is the change in the inherited characteristics of biological populations over successive generations.”

 The bill, however, supposedly does not allow for a such a debate. But, the question is, should it?

The fact remains that whether people accept it or not, both creationism and evolution are based in theories, meaning that neither has been substantially proven. For every book and study written to prove one concept there is most likely a book and study written to prove the other. And of course, there are many facets to both concepts. A discussion of creationism will undoubtedly creep into a discussion of religion and a discussion of evolution will definitely lead to the oversimplification that human beings evolved from monkeys.

In general, I believe that open discussions on both subjects are good. However, I also believe that conversations based on creationism vs. evolution will begin rejecting the ideas and beliefs of individuals, which in my experience has never been a good thing.  

Perhaps the following comment by a user of Huffington Posts answers the posed question best:

The origin of this existence is not yet explained, nor will it be explainable in the foreseeable future. Intelligent design cannot be the answer, as in order for there to be intelligence, there must first be life. And for it to be the product of Evolution, there must first be something for life to evolve from.

It seems it’s beyond man’s capability to simply say, I don’t have a clue and I probably never will!

We should stick to teaching what has been proven and how best we can avail ourselves to what we have at hand.

Geological discoveries prove that man has evolved from the cave man to present day man, but until the missing link is unearthed, we have no definitive proof that man evolved from prehistoric ape. Yet, that fact in no way validates the theory that we were intelligently created from dust!

Too many times, I hear religion defending [its] stance by dismissing the theory of Evolution. And all too often Evolutionists, defend their stance by dismissing the validity of intelligent design.

I for one, accept the label “Atheist” because the logic behind the existence of God/Gods are unfathomable to me, but that in no way, insinuates that I have the slightest clue as to how time began. I’m okay with admitting, I don’t know the answer.

Public education curriculum should stick to matters that are within the realm of logical speculation and provable fact.