Science classrooms not a place for unexamined religious beliefs

Creationism in the classroom.

It's been a heated topic in Kansas for years, and most recently, in Indiana. Less than a week ago, Senate Bill 89 passed in the state's senate with a vote of 28-22.

The bill originally read, "The governing body of a school corporation may require the teaching of various theories concerning the origin of life, including creation science, within the school corporation," according to a Jan. 31 article on the National Center for Science Education website.

Eventually, the bill was proposed and amended to read, "The governing body of a school corporation may offer instruction on various theories of the origin of life. The curriculum for the course must include theories from multiple religions, which may include, but is not limited to, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Scientology."

Concerns were instantly raised about the bill, and really, you can't blame people for worrying about it.

When someone raises such a proposal for any Senate, they have to know that it will go to the courts. Why waste the time and resources of people to argue endlessly over something so controversial?

For instance, a Jan. 31 article on nwitimes.com states that Indiana Senator Dennis Kruse "said not everyone believes in evolution, so students should be exposed to as many competing ideas as possible."

The same article goes on to illustrate the inevitable consequences of passing such a bill. Indiana Senator Tim Skinner points out the likely result, saying that "any school corporation that teaches the religious origins of life is just asking for a lawsuit, and local taxpayers will be stuck footing the bill."

A huge lawsuit is a valid concern; as a Feb. 2 article on nwitimes.com notes, "a Pennsylvania school that added creationism to its biology curriculum in 2004 later lost a federal lawsuit and had to pay $1 million."

Further complicating the issue, with the bill being so open as far as details go, school districts filled with diverse teachers would have an incredibly hard time figuring out what exactly they should and shouldn't teach to their young students.

Skinner seems to be of a similar mind; the Jan. 31 NCSE article points out that he "expressed concern not only about the bill's constitutionality but also about the lack of guidance it provides for local school teachers and districts."

When it gets down to it, all science is theory.

However, these theories that daring minds have produced have been tested and systematically researched and experimented with over the years to become the world's way of understanding subjects like chemistry and biology.

When you think about creation stories for any religion, can you honestly say that they have ever been tested in any way to come up with proof for the argument?

The answer is no.

I'm not saying that these many religious mythologies should be considered wholly false, I'm just saying that they're fueled by the unwavering belief of followers that has passed down these tales for centuries. With a multitude of beliefs in existence, should they be housed in a science classroom of all things?

Again, no. The creation myths of various faiths have no place in a science classroom, but if they must be included in a school's course listings, they should be presented in an elective course that focuses on various creation myths from different times, places and peoples.

Has the theory of evolution been proven? No, but as we further our understanding of the world around us and the world of the past, science adds more and more to the argument of its existence.

One thing that science has shown is the change of a species over time to become an animal we recognize today, so with that evidence, this particular theory has a place in the classroom.

Science, in general, is a practice that is getting more refined as the days pass — it's about studying the immediate world around us.

With that, I argue that a science classroom should be the home of many practices and theories of how things came into existence, but not about the mysterious, believed forces that may or may not be behind them.

Tyler Brown is a senior in English. Please send all comments to opinion@kstatecollegian.com.