Creationism is religion and has no place in the classroom. End of story. One problem with scientists is that they want to argue with anyone over anything. So they fall into this trap the creationists set for them to consider “intelligent design” a scientific theory and argue painstakingly over creationism’s scientific merit.

However, the “intelligent design” debate is an Orwellian trap. Most people want simple answers. Evolution is not simple, and scientific arguments are nit-picking gobbledygook to most of us not-so-scientific worker-bees. The creationist “theory” is simple and compelling to many who are tired of the complexities of life on earth: “There is the Big Guy – trust me – and He made it all up and said it was good. Amen.”

Uh – that’s not science. That’s religion. Creationists don’t bother to explain where the Big Guy came from and how He got so smart He could make all this stuff up. I mean, if that’s a scientific theory, than we also have to consider the Norse creation myth or the creation myth of the Huron (check it out) or the Dreamtime of the Australian Aborigines as competing scientific theories. Some of these creation myths are very cool stories – compelling ways of our forebears to explain where we come from. But there is no science in these stories, and neither is in the Christian creation myth.

Today we know that we were designed by an unintelligent process of natural selection – unintelligent design, if you will – and we call this process evolution. This is no more a theory than the globe-shape of the earth is a theory. Evolution is a very broad scientific principle that leaves plenty of room for change, debate and arguments. But there is no room for creationism. Creationism belongs in the church.

The Christian creation myth is not so totally incompatible with evolution as the creationist zealots make it seem, anyway. Many Christians I know have no problem with the idea that God got the ball rolling and created the rules that apply in our world. These Christians praise the Lord for creating such a clever, efficient and effective design as unintelligent design, or evolution.

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 28th, 2005 at 9:39 am and is filed under Go figure. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.