Evolution vs. Creationism Isn't The Problem

The ageless battle between religion and science will certainly not end in our lifetimes unfortunately. The divide between faith and reason will never meet and arguing about it is merely fun, not necessarily efficacious towards a solution. In the meantime we can fix one problem causing so much friction between believers and non-believers in regards to the teaching-creationism-in-public-school debate. Government\public school is the abrasive element here. Without public school, with a free market in education people would be have children learn what they want in their school of choice. And as children grow older, what they themselves want to learn about. (I was taught to never start a sentence with And for instance, but sometimes I like to) Don't like religious blather getting into your biology class? Go to the freethinker\secular\scientific kind of school. Don't like anything that doesn't promote your love for Jesus? Go to the religious school. Simple. With public schools you've put everyone in the same centralized box, having to live under the same rules. That's the mistake, allowing government to have any say about education. By nature it pits people against each other. To once again invoke the Founding Fathers, they made it clear that government and religion should not intermingle. So that means IF you want government schools they can't have religion in them.

However, it is also unfair to assume that anyone learning about Subject X is going to buy into Subject X's claims 100%. I was raised with religious education for about 10 years or so. I was taught all sorts of fairy tales as well as some science. It didn't turn me into a devout Catholic by any means. Somehow my mind was not overtaken by the religious right or whatever. I consider myself an atheist today. I don't have a membership card or anything, no bumper sticker, but that's what I feel. The church didn't turn me into a little Catholic automaton any more than learning about science is going to shake the religious beliefs of religious kids who are secure in their faith.

What bothers me the most about Creationists is the ridiculousness of wanting the God story taught alongside the scientific evidence about the natural world. HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO READ THE GENESIS CHAPTER IN THE BIBLE TO YOUR KIDS AT HOME FER CRYING OUT LOUD!? The claims about creationism would take a a few minutes to explain to a class. But if you want to go into the science direction, well now you've got your work cut out for yourself! That can provide for a lengthy class. A lifetime of study even! I don't see how the religious angle would provide enough to chew on. The scales are so tipped in favor of science. There's so much more to talk about. Religion is fixed and unmoving. You've got your little sandbox to play in and that's it. You can spend your life studying the sand and it might be very rewarding, but you can't expand the sides of the sandbox like you can in science. They don't even know where the sides are fer cripes sakes, there's just a helluva lotta sand out there.

If you want your kids to learn religion then send them to religious school like my parents did. Or teach them yourself. And more importantly, get the federal government out of the business of education so it becomes easier and cheaper to have more private schools for people to choose from. Let people who don't have kids not bear the cost of those who do. This whole centralized, one-size-fits-all system is by nature isn't going to please everyone. It's only going to anger and divide people for no good reason. Let the debate over evolution vs. creationism be waged in a free market rather than a bureaucratic, communist-type state apparatus. We need to promote individual choice and personal responsibility and not put our trust in politicians who have no true interest in our education. Learning is too important to be administered by a bunch of posturing, corrupt gasbags. Let people who truly care about kids teach kids in the best way they know.