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The Et Cetera

The Et Cetera

The Et Cetera

People should separate church, fact

BY BILLY DENNIS, OPINION COLUMNIST

The biology classroom remains the last great hope against the powerful forces of religious indoctrination.
Our children’s education is being threatened by a small yet dedicated group of troglodytes in Austin trying to sneak creationism into biology textbooks.
Creationism now goes by the name of intelligent design. It has been renamed and repackaged in order to get around a Supreme Court ruling that said it was illegal to teach creationism because it promotes one religion over another.
Now it simply forgoes mentioning God.
I have never begrudged anyone for his or her own personal religious views. Frankly, it’s none of my concern.
But when the sanctity of the classroom is threatened with religion, then the gloves must come off.
Those who have been led to believe that evolution is just some hunch, assumption or best guess that science has for explaining life have been seriously misguided. Odds are, it was on purpose.
Evolution is not some recondite third-world science struggling to just get by. It is the foundation for everything we see in the natural world.
Everything in nature can be explained though evolution, and without it, nothing would make sense at all. It is an absolute fact of science.
The crux of the problem comes from a lack of understanding of the word theory. In terms of our everyday speech, we define theory as meaning something tentative or speculative, an assumption. This is not how the word is defined in science.
In science we define a scientific theory as a comprehensive, well-substantiated explanation of the facts. The theory of evolution is a fact, as secure in science as any other.
To deny evolution is to make known your lack of education. To even question the theory of evolution would be wrong.
If the creationists get their way, and teachers are forced to teach creationism alongside evolution, it will not stop with biology. They’ll soon begin to make challenges to geology, cosmology and physics.
Creationists believe the earth to be less than 10,000 years old, making such outlandish claims as dinosaurs and men living together. I like to call this “Flintstone” logic.
I have no problem with people continuing to believe in a personal god. I’m sure they get a great deal of comfort from that belief, and it would be wrong to deny religion to those who need a little extra reassurance.
It just should not be taught as a scientific theory in biology. For one, it not a scientific theory, it’s a religion. Actually, I think myth or superstition is more accurate.
They don’t even teach creationism at some Christian universities.
Baylor University, a Baptist institution, refuses to teach alternatives to evolution because they cannot be tested.
College students have a duty to educate themselves on matters of science if they want to be taken seriously.
Thomas Jefferson said, “Question with boldness even the existence of a god.”
Students should not go through life without questioning their faith or their god. It’s time to take charge of your own education.

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