RE: Challenges to teaching biology

The ACLU promise to take any public school teacher to court that promotes an atheistic worldview is vacuous. There are clever and stupid ways to do that. Surely, one can teach a materialistic worldview without invoking the word religion. Let us face it, our students are not that philosophically clever and so I would challenge teachers to engage students in philosophical and philosophy of science subtleties. That will certainly bring all sorts of interesting and deep questions and answers that ought to be part of every child's education.

Moorad

-----Original Message-----
From: asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu [mailto:asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu] On Behalf Of Keith Miller
Sent: Monday, April 03, 2006 3:03 PM
To: asa@calvin.edu
Subject: Re: Challenges to teaching biology

> 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. 

I am sorry but you are wrong. There is nothing that prohibits a
teacher from communicating the compatibility of faith and evolutionary
science. That can be done without proselytizing. Teaching the history
and nature of science is one such way. Again, I know many teachers who
do just what you indicate above.

The Kansas science standards that were rejected by the Kansas state
school board explicitly stated that evolutionary science is not in
conflict with religious faith, and is not based on an atheistic
worldview. Again, it is the YEC and ID proponents who have
consistently resisted the efforts to communicate the non-conflict view
in the science standards (because they themselves view evolution and
the Christian faith as in necessary conflict).

Howewever, it would be inappropriate for a teacher to say "your silly
ideas about the Bible and God are falsified by science." I know of no
teachers, or any teacher organizations statewide or nationally that
would condone such an action.

BTW: the ACLU lawyers involved in Dover have explicitly stated that if
a teacher tried to promote an atheistic worldview in a public science
classroom they would take them to court.

Keith
Received on Mon Apr 3 15:24:46 2006