Re: Challenges to teaching biology

I personally do not know of a single K-12 science teacher who teaches
science as a naturalistic philosophy. Most are Christians themselves.

Just one other thought -- we can't be blind to the Constitutional and social
context that exacerbates this problem. It would be wonderful if those
Christian teachers could say "I accept the evidence for evolution but I
don't view that as a challenge to my faith. Here are some reasons why."
Constitutionally, they can't do that. A teacher who is an atheist or
agnostic, however, can say "your silly ideas about the Bible and God are
falsified by science" without violating the Constitution, or at least
without drawing an establishment clause lawsuit from a well-funded civil
liberties organization. It's easy to deride those fundamentalist kids and
their parents for their apparently belligerent YEC-ism. There's plenty of
blame to go around, though, and much of it should be shouldered by the
misguided civil liberties groups who pull the hair trigger at any reference
to religion in public schools. The middle ground has become more and more
of an impassible demilitarized zone because both sides consistently choose
the nuclear option.

On 4/3/06, Keith Miller <kbmill@ksu.edu> wrote:
> > The sad truth is, we are losing on both fronts. I dont know what
> > the greater challenge is, getting old earth creationism in our
> > churches, or allowing a discussion in schools that says that
> > evolution does not equate with naturalism.
>
>
> The latter discussion CAN, and does, occur in the public schools.
> It is part of communicating the nature and limitations of science, as
> well as the history and philosophy of science. The good teachers do
> it already. I personally do not know of a single K-12 science
> teacher who teaches science as a naturalistic philosophy. Most are
> Christians themselves. Unfortunately many YEC kids (and their
> parents) simply equate any teaching of evolution as the teaching of
> atheism, even when the teachers have explicitly indicated their own
> faith and the compatibility of evolutionary science and faith. I
> know many cases like this.
>
> Keith
>
>
>
Received on Mon Apr 3 12:16:37 2006