Science vs Creationism & Intelligent Design

The La Times published a piece entitled, “Inspiration for Doubters of Darwin” reporting that Pres. Bush made statements being taken by proponents of “intelligent design” as supportive of their argument. And, that might well be the intent of Pres. Bush.

Regardless of your position on the issue, creationism and intelligent design have no place in a public school. It is the responsibility of the faithful to teach the concepts to their children. It is the responsibility of the pubic schools to prepare students for the secular world. It is also not the place of public schools to proselytize the religion of secularism.

The teaching of science, of which biology and the theory of evolution is an essential part, is an important aspect of a foundational public education. The teaching of creationism or intelligent design is an important aspect of some religious groups’ training, but certainly not all. A requirement to keep a wall between government enterprises and religious enterprises is especially important in this arena. Otherwise, public supported enterprises run the danger of advocating the religious views of a majority religion and ignoring the views of some religious minority and the non-religious alike. Religion and its teaching is the responsibility of the religious and government. Government has no business sticking its nose into the teaching of religious concepts and should be prohibited from doing so. Otherwise, religious freedom is liable to be lost in this country and replaced by a mono-religious culture. Some would like that, no doubt. But, it is a bad idea. That sort of situation is exactly why many early settlers, of what was to become the U. S., fled the religious tyranny of Europe.