A discussion on creationism versus evolution and its impact on the world of science (and on young questioners)

My husband the scientist is the perfect balance to my... well, not-science. He’s articulate and intelligent, can debate the merits of space travel, and holds fervent views on the study of science in public schools (while planning to teach Tycho why the sky is really blue before the poor babe has the chance to understand). His background, career, and views on life are all thanks to the impact science has had on him.

And, despite my scientific knowledge being but a fraction of his, both of us are concerned with how young people are being taught science nowadays.

We’re not talking just about safety in classrooms, class time limitations, or even how standardized testing is pushing science out the door in favor of math and English, though those are all valid issues and concerns surrounding science in public schools. What we’re more concerned with are the dealings of controversial topics, and one is at the forefront of our minds, especially since we won’t be raising Tycho to hold any esteem in it.

I’m talking about creationism.


A Gallup poll on evolution in mid-2012 noted: 46% of respondents are creationists (“God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time within the last ten thousand years or so”), 32% believe in “theistic evolution” (“Human beings have developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life, but God guided this process”), and only 15% said humans evolved with God playing no part in the process.

It’s true that Americans are rather infamous for being ignorant on so many things, but we’re still here, we’re still managing. So why does it matter that almost half the country rejects the overwhelming evidence of evolution, corralling instead for evidence out of a not-comparatively-ancient text?

Because the belief in creationism expresses an inability to think critically. Creationists assert that teaching “both sides” of a scientific controversy (an imaginary one, at that) would benefit students by training them in critical thinking. What I see, though, is heavy-handed reliance on a book written by men with no scientific background and on preachers with degrees not in scientific fields but in religion, and assertions that “it’s in the Bible” as if that was a definitive, not debatable, statement of truth.

Pseudoscience at its best (worst...?).

The debate between Nye and Ham above (viewable for, I imagine, a limited time) highlights this. As Bill Nye said in the video above, “I challenge the young people here to investigate [the question of consciousness from matter or origins before the Big Bang Theory]”, noting that some things in the world are mysteries and that there is so much yet to discover about the universe, the world, and us.

Ken Ham, on the other hand, spouts that “I just want to say that there is a book out there that does document [where consciousness came from or where matter came from]”. His assertion, based on pseudoscience of Biblical proportions (see what I did there?), is that God created everything, that God is the answer to everything, and you would know all this if you read the damn book.

Well, can I just say... bullshit.

Absolute bullshit.

There is no critical thinking at all behind the assertion that the answers can be found in a book, especially one written by infallible humans with no scientific backgrounds to speak of. There is no wondering whether it could be wrong, no investigation into the truth of that, no trials or experiments or even questions about how to test the “theories” in the Bible.

WHAT...?!

If you couldn’t tell already, I’m a diehard anti-creationist, and it angers me that there is a push to have the senseless, inane “theory” of creationism taught in our schools, that there is a large group of supposedly educated individuals (including college graduates!) who believe in such crap. I agree with Nye when he states that the Bible should be doomed to the dustbin of history in favor of the modern religion of reason, science, and “discovery”.

For if we continue along this path? A path which eschews reason in the name of religion and “faith”?

Then I fear for the future of science, of ingenuity, of progress. I fear that there will be no scientists of our future, no questioning of the world around us and how it works, no discovery of those things that are truly a mystery and that can possibly be explained not by a religious conviction, but sound scientific method.

It may be true that you can’t convince someone with a closed mind to examine other options or listen to reason. But while my son’s mind, and the minds of several thousand students, is malleable and in the hands of those who dedicate their lives to educate, I’ll be damned if I ever allow such garbage as creationism be taught as “fact”.

And I’ll encourage him to always, without fail, question everything around him.

Yes, even us at times. Even if I live to regret it. ;)