Vote, discuss, debate, etc.

My personal take is "of course not". The fact that people are pushing to have a creation myth taught in science classes is one of the most absurd things I've ever heard. I suppose I would support the teaching of Christian creation as part of a discussion of religions in a sociology class, but only if every single other creation myth throughout history was also discussed. I think kids would start to see that they're all, without exception, fiction, and that would be a good thing. But since I don't trust our public school teachers to honestly and fairly discuss religions other than Christianity, I think it's best that we just leave religion out of public schools entirely.

If you want your child to learn your religion's brand of creation myth you can send them to a private school of your denomination or you can let your local Sunday school handle it. There is not one single good reason to argue for teaching creation in public schools, not one.

This is absurd: but only if every single other creation myth throughout history was also discussed.


There is a cultural aspect you deliberately overlook (Argumentation never encapsulates the human factor or sociological culture factors.)

Culture is a part of people. If you can insist on something so oddball it exposes just how little you've considered how important that aspect is.

I learned (from a Buddhist btw) that you risk tearing up people as well as society when you strike at and try to pull them up by their roots.

Also some countries are so defined by their culture that looking at them thru the multicultural polyglot lens of the West will never do. What makes these cultures great is their ethnic character. It becomes a part of them even with a few weeds/disfigurements mixed in.

Why is it absurd to suggest the teaching of creation myths other than yours? All or none (and preferably none).

You got your condescending tone across successfully, but I'm afraid that other than that your post doesn't make much sense.

You're still ignoring culture.

If you think culture isn't a powerful force I suggest you see the movie "Dark Matter".

(content removed, just the link is fine)

(With statements like you made above you really just impose your own atheist existential view on the rest of humanity.)

NY Times article link: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/27/sc...pagewanted=all

No, I'm not. What are you talking about? You're not making any sense.

Are you trying to argue that creation should be taught in public schools because it's part of our culture? Because that would actually be on-topic.

I didn't say any such thing. What are you talking about??

This thread is about whether or not the Christian creation myth should be taught in public schools.

I'm actually interested to hear input from those who would vote "yes", as I believe, as I stated in the OP, that there isn't a single good argument for that viewpoint (so I would like to hear such an argument if someone has one).

Splendour,

When you contacted the author of that article and asked him if you could post it in this forum, how did he react? I'm surprised he agreed to let you do it. I would have expected him to request that you provide a link to the article on the NY Times site, rather than quoting the entire article and providing a link as an afterthought.

I was just commenting on the overbearingness of the atheist world view. They forget there are other views all the time. One of the best things about Christianity is its hidden vein of tolerance in which it allows all players to think, speak and act. Occasionally Christians get carried away and misfire still the Christian world seems to have more tolerance and progress co-existing then many other parts of the world.

Sometimes creationism comes across as too simple an explanation but at other times it gets the most important things absolutely right.

At other times I'm impressed by evoluton. But I'm really no expert.

What I think you have with both sides is both halves of the egg. Without both halves you'll never understand the whole. So I just decided to vote yes to creationism being taught.

Its a partial excerpt. To broaden our minds.

IOW without creationism all you've got is "an unfertilized egg".

what important things are you talking about?
What half of the egg does creationism bring?

Creationism is not the OTHER view. It's the OLD view. So I'm all for having it taught in history of science, or having it briefly mentioned as the archaic pov in a biology class, but having it in on par with current science classes is crazy.

I'd be fine with that as an introduction to biology -- a brief summary of what the Christians thought of creation, and the Native Americans, and the Egyptians, and so on, followed by "the rest of this course will discuss how creation actually happened and continues to happen".

Many people here in Europe think that the average American is dumber than the average European, which is obviously wrong. But one can see where this impression comes from. Creationism and Intelligent Design are Christian beliefs. They have nothing to do with science and belong exclusively to RE classes. We are still dumbstruck that even a Christian school would think otherwise in an industrialised nation.

The USA - contradicting themselves since 1776.

Are you actually suggesting that a public, government-run school should be promoting one religion's view on creation as the truth while ignoring what all other religions have to say on the matter? Unless you live in a theocracy, I don't see how you can support this view.

It brings the spark of intellectual inspiration.

With its contrasts and crazy questions someone might look down an avenue they never thought to go down before.

Think of mother nature lying like a corpse. Creation is the lifespark that generates life.

Mostly we examine Mother Nature. We forgot it takes father's divine action to activate her. Finding the spark is the toughest thing in science whether it be what makes the mind actively work or what caused the Cambrian explosion.

Well I'm not sure what your talking about I'm afraid? I find science completely fascinating and has led me to want to study and learn more. What does this bring for me? factual knowledge, a better understanding of the world and an understanding of what scientists are trying to discover, for me this is much better than learning about a myth.

Also I'm wondering why is it important for young people to learn it? apart from the 'spark' in your opinion what does it actually teach?

Partial? You cut and pasted 50% of the article.

Yes. I think all the creation stories and various religions and beliefs should be taught in a school theology class.

For one in the US. If all creation myths and beliefs were taught it would force the hand of the Christian extremists and show they Don't want God/Gods in school unless it's just their own. Kind of a put up or shut up thing.

Also if it got by the extremists and was allowed. It would expose kids to all sorts of views other then their own which is always good. I think i would of left the church earlier if i was exposed to all the various creations story's and beliefs about God/Gods.

Out of the box thinking.

"X caused it" isn't out of the box thinking, it's intellectual lazyness.

I don't think public schools should exist. As long as they do exist, whichever group has political power will use it to indoctrinate children into whatever agenda they wish to push. State control of the education system is a terrible conflict of interest. I see no great difference between the pushing of the evolutionary agenda in the public school system, or the pushing of the creationist agenda in the public school system. Both will be unacceptable to parents who don't agree, yet their tax dollars will be used for the purpose of teaching their children something they don't agree with. I think this is wrong, either way. The fact that I believe in evolution is irrelevant here. Parents shouldn't be forced to pay for an educational system (through their tax dollars) that doesn't match their values. I didn't vote in the poll, both answers imply support of having a public school system which decides what will and will not be taught.

The great minds of Science think very much outside of the box, the creativity needed to imagine these great concepts is an art in itself. The translation of these ideas into a testable format or a mathematical interpretation is just part of the scientific approach. Look at string theory for a perfect example, completely untested and unproven but it shows what great ideas push scientists forward.

All of them? There wouldn't be time to teach anything else.

So, we need to not be teaching creation mythology at all unless someone is going to institute a survey course.

bingo