Biblical creation should be taught alongside greek, norse and hindu creation stories in comparitive religion classes. Evolution should be taught in science class.

Geez,I dunno, how about classes on turning water into wine, or feeding thousands with 5 fish? Maybe the poor ignorant bastards wouldn't need to work 3 jobs if they could do that!

Having been an English teacher, I would have enjoyed teaching a course on creation myths. That would have made a wonderful look at the imaginations of humans and how they explained what we now know as science. Technically, I did some of that in teaching Greek myths and when I taught American literature I always included Native American stories.

There is no genuine reason to teach creationism. It is not only a waste of time, but also not accurate to suggest there are only 2 explanations. One is based on observable date, the many others are not. Teachers are already limited in time, thus teaching something that is patently absurd minimizes the time to instruct in what is necessary.

You can teach a handful of creation myths, why use the YHWH one? Why not the many native american or african tales that are also part of the culture? Celtic, greek, roman (just to stay on western civilizations).
The problem here is to give special treatment to one religion. In a one hour class you could tell 10 or more of those tales or 2 or 3 and show the symbols behind them and make kids understand that the tales are not supposed to be accurate accounts of reality, but to teach useful lessons for the time they were created.
Don't lie, don't kill, protect the tribe, keep the tribe united.
But one thing they are not is science. In this same way of thinking you should tell a pre-scientific history for any scientific concept you will teach.

Yes it is fun to destroy old mysticism but you should do it a few times and then kids will already understand that scientific method works and you don't need to justify every piece of knowledge (we don't have time for that)

"In the Western tradition ?. Maybe in the US tradition. Teaching of creationism has no place in schools unless in a lesson on mythology along with other myths.

You should teach science in science class and teach fables and mythology in fables and mythology class (such as church). "Holding them up next to one another," or "teaching the controversy," is giving the fable a scientific credibility that it doesn't merit.

No, I don’t believe it has any place being taught alongside evolution as that somehow elevates it’s status and implies a kind of equivalence that it doesn’t merit. The only place on the school curriculum for any biblical study, including the creation story in Genesis, is in the study of Comparative Religions, which should be a stand alone subject.

There's Darwinism, and then there's everything else. Similarly, there's "2+2=4" and then there's every other answer.

Creationism is a pseudo-scientific scam which only serves to put money in the pockets of charlatans.

Creationism or Intelligent Design should be taught as what some people believe, but not taught as reality. Better a science teacher discusses these issues than a preacher. It's called teaching critical thought.

As a former high school biology teacher many years ago, I say that there is no way in hell that creationism should be taught in schools. It is demented theology, not science

We need everyone to become unpaid science teachers. See my group mentioning science teachers on this site - although you do not have to be a paid science teacher to join!

I mean...it's wrong so...don't teach it? As far as I know we don't teach any flat earth or non-heliocentric theories.

Teaching that creationism exists but is debunked is not the same as teaching creationism. Of course creationism should not be taught in schools. On the other hand i still can't say mentioning creationism is a necessary part of teaching about evolution. You would really have to teach about every creation myth ever to do it right, and when would you have time to teach anything else? And evolution isn't even ABOUT creation. Evolution isn't about how the universe came to be. Darwin never mentioned the big bang or singularity as far as i know. The purpose of teaching about evolution is not to refute anyone's religion, though it may well do that.

g

I agree with this post but it does not mean I think creation should be taught in the classroom. I'm speaking here in a similar way as to what would happen if you teach religion in the classroom. Evangelicals want religion taught their way in claiming we are a Christian Nation. The reality of teaching religion in the classroom would be a brief mention of all religions. Being educated is not a religious matter.

You can't just teach one religions origin story. if you are going to teach one fairy tale then you will need to teach them all. Creationism and any other form of unverifiable belief would also need to be taught in comparison, including those no longer practiced. This would take entirely too much time and should be set aside for specialty studies.

I remember learning in the first lessons of Microbiology 101 that scientists used to believe in something called Spontaneous Generation and this theory was overturned when science came to understand the existence of microorganisms. I found it instructional that we could give up old theories as new ones came about that provided a better understanding of our reality.
Creationism is just a theory that was put forth by bronze age men to try and make sense of their reality. Holding Creationism up to inspection is a good idea but only if the science professor moves on and explains the modern theory of Darwinism.

Sure, tell kids that there is a rational explanation for life on earth and there is a fairy tale. Let them choose.

LMFAO!!!!!!

That's a joke, right?
I mean, it has to be. You can't possibly be serious.
Creationism? What "creator"????
There's no "creator" to have "created" anything. So there's NOTHING
to teach.

Thanks for the laugh. That's the funniest thing I've read all day.
Seriously. Thank you!
LMFAO!!!

Why pick just the Judeo Christian creation story. There are many others that could be taught as well.

I expect that a god lesson could be made out of explaining that there are a plethora of creation stories, all over the world, and have been there all through recorded history, but they are composed of fantasy, while evolution is a scientifically founded explanation for the development of life on the planet, and the scientific method is not a religion. The creation myths do serve, and have served social and psychological purposes, but these do not make the myths reality.

Creationism should not be taught, but it would be good to contrast science and evolution to Creationism and discuss why science should be accepted over it. But there are many people who have God and religion implanted in their brains, who will be unwilling or perhaps unable to get themselves to seriously consider the scientific account of evolution.

I love it. Reality must be taught as reality, and mythology must be taught as mythology. That's the problem with churches. They teach mythology as if it were reality, and vice versa.

Creationism properly belongs in a class on World Folklore.

Uh, no, it's not necessary to tell ANY story, just relate the facts we have, the current theory that embraces and explains the facts, and not go down any mythological rabbit hole.