The Indiana Law Blog: Ind. Gov’t. – Evolution flap riles East Porter The Indiana Law Blog has a post up concerning a dust up over the lack of creationism in a biology textbook being considered by the East Porter County School Board.
The East Porter County School Board has delayed the adoption of biology textbooks because they don’t mention creationism, a theory that a divine being is responsible for the creation of life. * * *
Board member Tim Bucher said he wished the books were more balanced and mentioned there were other theories besides evolution.
“I believe it’s a theory of evolution, not a fact of evolution.â€
Bucher, who described himself as a fundamentalist Christian who believes the Bible literally, said he hasn’t seen the recommended texts from Prentice Hall and Holt yet. “I’m trying to be a realist along with my Christian faith. At least let the kids know about it,†he said of creationism.
Bucher is correct, of course, that evolution is a theory. But he doesn’t seem to acknowledge that creationism isn’t a theory in the scientific sense. (There is a pretty nice summary of the conflict, here.) The problem with teaching creationism in science is that it’s not science and not based on the scientific method. I don’t mind kids being taught that people disagree with the theory of evolution. But they should probably be taught about the disagreement in classes about religion or humanities or other classes teaching the disciplines that form the belief in creationism. Science has one set of core principles: 1. Discovery of truth through observation; 2. Hypotheses that are falsifiable and experiments that can be repeated; etc. Religion has another set of core principles: Infallibility of the Bible for some branches of Christianity.
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