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Is there a way to ignore silly threads like this one?
As a practicing Catholic I believe in evolution and it's taught at my kids' Catholic school but I'm offended that people are simply using this thread to bash other people's religions.
Amen
Evolution should still be taught as it was when I was in grade school (45 years ago) as a scientific theory with multiple conflicting opinions, but being scientifically generally accepted. Many theories have been disproven over the years with new data so not all theories are really fact and face it, we weren't there to watch it happen any more than us witnessing the religious beginnings of life.
Teach it, explain the generally accepted concepts, and for god's sake (pardon the pun) don't get mired in discussing the comparison in school with the religious teachings. The churches and parents of the children can handle that department.
Evolution should absolutely be taught in schools as the primary scientific theory for life. If there are other scientific theories, they may also be presented (if there are any, I do not know).
Intelligent design and creationism should not be taught along side evolution and has no place in science classes. If a class on religion (not just one but several) is requested by the school, it may be offered but only as an elective and not a required course.
Yes, evolution should be taught in all public schools.
Schools should teach scientific theory that is supported by the majority of the scientific community. Science class really isn't the place for politics or religion, especially if we want our students to compete on a global basis.
Is there a way to ignore silly threads like this one?
As a practicing Catholic I believe in evolution and it's taught at my kids' Catholic school but I'm offended that people are simply using this thread to bash other people's religions.
If you sent your children to public schools, would you want them to be taught religion in science class? That's the issue here. People can teach their children that the world is flat and the moon is made of green cheese if they home school their kids or they send them to private schools that teach that, but they have no business pushing their religious agendas in the public schools.
It's the same issue with prayer in public schools. Nobody is stopping students from praying in public schools, but teachers and administrators have no business promoting prayer. I can assure you, that if school prayers were allowed, and Mrs X in 3rd grade at ZZ Elementary School decided to have her class recite the Hail Mary every morning that the first people to storm the principal's office in protest would be most of the very same people who were all for school organized prayer in the first place because they assumed that it would be their dogma being promoted. The idea that somebody else has religious beliefs that differ from theirs, and that those should be respected, never occurred to these people.
If people want religion in schools, then they should organize their own schools, and stop trying to proselytize in the public ones, be it with prayer or by insinuating their religion into science classes. One of the reasons that American Catholics started their own school systems in the 19th century was because they found that their children were being taught Protestant dogma along with their letters and numbers.
Evolution should still be taught as it was when I was in grade school (45 years ago) as a scientific theory with multiple conflicting opinions, but being scientifically generally accepted. Many theories have been disproven over the years with new data so not all theories are really fact and face it, we weren't there to watch it happen any more than us witnessing the religious beginnings of life.
Teach it, explain the generally accepted concepts, and for god's sake (pardon the pun) don't get mired in discussing the comparison in school with the religious teachings. The churches and parents of the children can handle that department.
I agree that evolution should be taught in science classes with no mention of the "competing" theories of intelligent design. Evolution is science and the latter is not, desptie the many attempts to dress it up as sceince. Put lipstick on a pig and it's still a pig.
But the broader question IMO is whether public schools should teach ABOUT religion in the curriculum, where a theory of intelligent design might be discussed. A curriculum that taught about all the major religions, their doctrines, literature, and impact on the world would be of immense value I think. So many kids know so little about other faiths its sometimes embarrasing. Witness the dummies who were mad at Miss America because they thought she was Muslim. (And there is nothing wrong with being Muslim I should add.) But the politics of a "world religion" class is just too scary for the fundamentalists (of any faith) out there. And too many others are scared of instruction turning into proselytizing. It's a shame. All our kids should know more than they do about both science and religion. Then they could make up their own minds grounded in knowledge instead of ignorance.
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Originally Posted by citylove101
I agree that evolution should be taught in science classes with no mention of the "competing" theories of intelligent design. Evolution is science and the latter is not, desptie the many attempts to dress it up as sceince. Put lipstick on a pig and it's still a pig.
But the broader question IMO is whether public schools should teach ABOUT religion in the curriculum, where a theory of intelligent design might be discussed. A curriculum that taught about all the major religions, their doctrines, literatre, and their impact on the world would be of immense value I think. So many kids know so little about other faiths its sometimes embarrasing. Witness the dummies who were mad at Miss America because they thought she was Muslim. (And there is nothing wrong with being Muslim I should add.) But the politics of a "world religion" class is just too scary for the fundamentalists (of any faith) out there. And too many others are scared of instruction turning into proselytizing. It's a shame. All or kids should know more than they do about both science and religion. Then they could make up their own minds grounded in knowledge instead of ignorance.
Isn't that what a humanities class is for? Maybe those aren't common anymore.
Isn't that what a humanities class is for? Maybe those aren't common anymore.
I dont think those sorts of humanities classes are very common anymore. Its more a touch of this and touch of that regarding religion and not much else.
My kids took world history where for a week or so they learned that the Muslims once had Spain and got stopped from conquering Europe--but with no mentionof what Islam actually taught. They learned that British India was split between the Muslims and the Hindus after World War II -- but no mention of what Muslims or Hindus actually believed. (And who was that Gandhi guy again?) They learned that the Reformation was when the Protestants broke off from the Catholics but little about it beyond that. (I think Martin Luther made a quick entrance and that was it.) They learned about the Holocaust, but little about what Jews actually believe or their history in Europe. And so on and so on.
Literature classes are even worse. When I was in high school my English teacher was very clear when we read Moby Dick: "You can't understand this book unless you know your Bible. Melville did not pick the names Ishmael and Ahab out of a hat." And we had to read biblical passages while we read the book. Can't even imagine that happening now.
And as far as non-religious philosophy goes, forget about it. Maybe in private schools or Catholic ones, but who does Plato or Aristotle, utilitarians versus existentialists, or anything like that. These are not easy reads, but neither are the concepts beyond high-schoolers.
Except in our puboic schools, where most adminsitrators quake in their boots that the staff might have to teach them.
Last edited by citylove101; 09-17-2013 at 02:19 PM..
Given that the Old Testament book of Genesis has two separate (and different) accounts of creation - which one of those would those who support creationism suggest be taught in public schools as the correct one?
I'm not here to say anything negative about religion. It's just that that is a topic you choose to personally teach your own children. There's no place for it in the academic environment, unless theology is the subject being discussed.
Actually, it may be worth it to make a mention of views like intelligent design as a quick side conversation, but only if it's discussed in proportion to how other religions of history viewed creation (the Aztecs, the Greeks, the Chinese, etc.). That's how most intro-level science courses are taught anyway, with a brief history of the progress and past views that led to or predated our current understanding.
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