Claim CA040:
In fairness, creation and evolution deserve equal time in science classes.
Source:
Morris, Henry M. 1985. Scientific Creationism. Green Forest, AR: Master
Books, 197-198.
Response:
- The teaching of creationism does not belong in science classes because
creationism has no science to teach. It is based on personal religious
belief, not on evidence. For the most part, creationism can fit with
anything we find, making it unscientific. Where creation models do
make specific predictions that can be tested against evidence, they
fail the tests. Asking for equal time is asking for nonscience to be
taught in science classes.
A 1999 United States poll found that most people favor teaching
evolution -- and teaching it as science -- and that when creationism is
taught, most prefer that it be taught either in nonscience classes or
as a religious belief (DYG 2000).
- Equal time would open creationism, and by extension Christianity in
general, to ridicule and attack. Saint Augustine recognized this in
the fifth century:
Usually, even a non-Christian knows something about the earth, the
heavens, and the other elements of this world, about the motion and
orbit of the stars and even their size and relative positions, . . .
and this knowledge he holds to as being certain from reason and
experience. Now, it is a disgraceful and dangerous thing for an
infidel to hear a Christian, presumably giving the meaning of Holy
Scripture, talking non-sense on these topics; and we should take all
means to prevent such an embarrassing situation, in which people
show up vast ignorance in a Christian and laugh it to scorn.
(Augustine 1982, 42-43)
- Equal time would mean teaching
- other versions of creationism from other denominations of
Christianity (including young-earth, old-earth, day-age, gap theory,
geocentrism, and flat earth). All have equal basis for being taught,
since they are all based on exactly the same Bible. All are mutually
incompatible (DYG 2000; Watchtower 1985, 186; Morris 1984, 215-247).
- other versions of scientific creationism from other religions.
Claims have been made for Muslim, Hindu, and Native American versions
of creationism.
The only legal precedent favoring creationism in the United States
in the last fifty years was an Interior Department decision finding, on
the basis of native creation and flood myths, that 9400-year-old
Kennewick Man was associated with
present-day Native American
tribes (Chatters 2001, 266).
- creation traditions from other religions and cultures, including, but
not limited to, the Aaragon, Abenaki, Acoma, Ainu, Aleut, Amunge,
Angevin, Anishinabek, Anvik-Shageluk, Apache, Arapaho, Ararapivka,
Arikara, Armenian, Arrernte, Ashkenazim, Assiniboine, Athabascan,
Athena, Aztec, Babylonian, Balinese, Bannock, Bantu, Basque,
Blackfoot, Blood, Bosnian, Breton, Brul, Bundjalung, Burns Paiute,
Caddo, Cahuilla, Catalan, Cayuga, Cayuse, Celt, Chehalis, Chelan,
Cherokee, Chewella, Cheyenne, Chickasaw, Chinook, Chippewa,
Chirachaua, Choctaw, Chukchi, Coeur d'Alene, Columbia River,
Colville, Comanche, Congolese, Concow, Coquille, Cow Creek, Cowlitz,
Cree, Creek, Croat, Crow, Crow Creek, Cumbres, Curonian, Cushite, Cut
Head, Da'an, Devon, Dihai-Kutchin, Diyari, Dogon, Duwamish, Egyptian,
Elwha, Eritrean, Eskimo, Esrolvuli, Eta, Even, Evenk, Flathead,
Fijian, Fox, Fuegan, Gaul, Gooniyandi, Gond, Govi Basin Mongolian,
Grand Ronde, Gros Ventre, Haida, Han, Haranding, Havasupai, Hendriki,
Heortling, Hidatsa, Hindi, Hmong, HoChunk, Hoh, Hoopa, Hopi,
Hunkpapa, Hutu, Ik-kil-lin, Inca, Innu, Intsi Dindjich, Inuit,
Iroquois, Isleta, Itchali, Itelemen, It-ka-lya-ruin, Itkpe'lit,
Itku'dlin, Jicarilla Apache, Jotvingian, Kaiyuhkhotana, Kalapuya,
Kalispel, Kamchandal, Kansa, Karuk, Katshikotin, Kaurna, Kaw, Kazahk,
Ketschetnaer, Khanti, Khoi-San, Khymer, Kickapoo, Kiowa, Kirghiz,
Kitchin-Kutchin, Klamath, Knaiakhotana, K'nyaw, Koch-Rajbongshi,
Kolshina, Kono, Kootenai, Koyukukhotana, !Kung, Kurd, La Jolla, Lac
Courte D'Oreille, Lac Du Flambeau, Laguna, Lake, Lakota, Lao,
Latgalian, Leech Lake Chippewa, Lemmi, Lower Brul, Lower Yanktonai,
Lowland Lummi, Lummi, Malawi, Makah, Mandan, Maori, Maricopan,
Martinez, Mayan, Mazatec, Mednofski, Menominee, Meryam Mir, Mesa
Grande, Mescalero Apache, Metlakatla, Miniconjou, Mission, Moallalla,
Modoc, Mohawk, Mojave, Morongo, Muckleshoot, Murrinh-Patha,
Nadruvian, Nagorno-Karabakh, Na-Kotchpo-tschig-Kouttchin, Nambe,
Namib, Natche'-Kutehin, Navajo, Nes Pelem, Neyetse-kutchi, Nez Perce,
Ngiyampaa, Nisqualli, Nnatsit-Kutchin, Nomelackie, Nooksack, Norman,
Norse, Northern Cheyenne, Nyungar, Oglala, Ogorvalte, Ojibway,
Okanagon, Okinawan, Olmec, Omaha, Oneida, Onondaga, Ordovices,
Orlanthi, Osage, Osetto, O-til'-tin, Otoe, Paakantyi, Paiute, Pala
Mission, Papago, Pawnee, Pazyryk, Pechango, Penan, Piegan, Pima, Pitt
River, Ponca, Potowatomie, Prussian, Pueblo, Puyallup, Qiang,
Quileute, Quinault, Red Cliff Chippewa, Red Lake Chippewa, Redwood,
Rincon, Sac, Saisiyat, Sakuddeis, Salish, Salt River, Samish, Samoan,
Samogitian, San Carlos Apache, San Idlefonso, San Juan, San Poil,
Santa Clara, Sartar, Sauk-Suiattle, Selonian, Semigolian, Seminole,
Senecan, Sephardim, Serano, Serb, Shasta, Shawnee, Shiite,
Shinnecock, Shoalwater Bay, Shoshone, Sikh, Siletz, Silures,
Sinhalese, Sioux, Siskiyou, Sisseton, Siuslaw, Skalvian, S'Klallam,
Skokomish, Skyomish, Slovene, Snohomish, Snoqualmie, Soboba, Southern
Cheyenne, Spokane, Squaxin Island, Steilacoom, Stillaquamish,
Stockbridge, Sunni, Suquamish, Swinomish, Tadjik, Takhayuna, Tala,
Talastari, Tamil, Tanaina, Taos, Tarim, Tasman, Tatar, Tesuque,
Tlingit, Toltec, Tpe-ttckie-dhidie-Kouttchin, Tranjik-Kutchin, Truk,
Tukkutih-Kutchin, Tulalip, Tungus, Turtle Mountain, Tuscarora, Turk,
Turkmen, Tutsi, Ugalakmiut, Uintah, Umatilla, Umpqua,
Uncompagre, U-nung'un, Upper Skagit, Ute, Uzbek, Vietnamese, Viking,
Vunta-Kutchin, Wahpeton, Walla Walla, Wasco, Wembawemba, White
Mountain Apache, Wichita, Wik-ungkan, Winnebago, Wiradjuri, Wylackie,
Xhosa, Yahi, Yakama, Yakima, Yakut, Yanamamo, Yankton Sioux,
Yellowknife, Yindjibarnd, Youkon Louchioux, Yukaghir, Yukonikhotana,
Yullit, Yuma, Zjen-ta-Kouttchin, and Zulu. (from Leipzig, n.d.)
- other ideas for the origin of life and the universe, such as
- solipsism
- Last Thursdayism, the unfalsifiable view that the universe and
everything in it was created last Thursday with only the appearance
of earlier history
- multiple designers (Hoppe 2004)
- Raelianism or other extraterrestrial involvement
- creation by time travellers.
Creationists do not want all of these taught in science class any more
than science educators do. Clearly, creationism in school is an
attempt to get greater time than all the opposing views, not equal
time. That is not fair.
- Creationists do not advocate equal time for evolutionary theory in
church services. Why?
Links:
Isaak, Mark, 2000. What is creationism?
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/wic.html
References:
- Augustine, St. 1982. The Literal Meaning of Genesis vol. 1, Ancient
Christian Writers., vol. 41. Transl. J. H. Taylor. New York: Newman
Press. http://noanswersingenesis.org.au/saintaugustine.htm
or
http://www.holycross.edu/departments/religiousstudies/alaffey/Augustine-Genesis.htm
- Chatters, James C. 2001. Ancient Encounters: Kennewick Man and the
first Americans. New York: Simon & Schuster.
- DYG, Inc. 2000. Evolution and creationism in public education: An
in-depth reading of public opinion.
http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/dfiles/file_36.pdf
- Hoppe, Richard B. 2004. Introduction to Multiple Designers Theory.
http://www.pandasthumb.org/pt-archives/000509.html
- Leipzig, M. R. 1998. The evolution fact FAQ.
http://www.holysmoke.org/skeptic-tank/factfaq.htm
(Page no longer active but accessible thru http://www.archive.org/ )
- Morris, Henry M. 1985. Scientific Creationism. Green Forest, AR: Master
Books.
- Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. 1985. Life--How Did It Get Here?
Brooklyn, NY.
Further Reading:
Edwords, Frederick. 1981. Why creationism should not be taught as
science; part 2: the educational issues. Creation/Evolution 3: 6-36.
http://www.ncseweb.org/resources/articles/3955_issue_03_volume_2_number_1__2_21_2003.asp#Why%20Creationism%20Should%20Not%20Be%20Taught%20As%20Science
Leeming, David and Margaret Leeming. 1994. A Dictionary of Creation
Myths. New York: Oxford.
Sproul, Barbara. 1991. Primal Myths. New York: HarperCollins.
created 2001-2-18, modified 2004-9-25