The Science of Creationism

There is currently a very disturbing trend going on in many local school boards throughout the United States. It seems that radical religious fundamentalists are pushing an agenda that includes prefacing the teaching of evolution with the statement that it is just a theory and demanding that "creationist theory" be included in the school curriculum. Some are even advocating supplanting the teaching of evolution with creationist notions.

In refutation of the first point, evolution is far from merely a theory. The body of scientific evidence that supports the concept of evolution is truly enormous. In addition to the sheer weight of the geological evidence, DNA evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates the connection between all forms of life on the planet and especially verifies the conclusions drawn from fossil evidence. Citing just one example, there is over 99% homology between human DNA and that of the chimpanzee.

Secondly, to refer to creationism as a body of knowledge worth of classification as a science is an oxymoron. It is so obviously a mythological tale regarding creation not unlike those found in ancient East Indian or Egyptian religious writings. It certainly is not a body of knowledge that has been accumulated using the scientific method and verified by both observation and experimentation. It is inherently a theological construct and belongs within the aegis of religion and should be presented that way.

Any attempt to foist this way of thinking on young children in the public schools disguised as a science is not only reprehensible and intellectually dishonest, but is destructive to society as a whole. It is essentially crazed thinking that attempts to discard the accumulated body of knowledge that is responsible for a great deal of human progress to this date. It suggests that a world of superstition, prejudice and culturally enforced ignorance is superior to a world where curiosity and the basic hunger for knowledge and understanding is encouraged and rewarded. In essence it is a way of thinking that chooses darkness over the light