Double standards always seem to fascinate me. Sometimes atheists have them. Sometimes Christians have them. In some way, I wouldn’t be surprised if we all have some double standards of our own.
Public school is one of those places that one of the secular double standards rears its ugly head. I wouldn’t have a big problem with it if it weren’t for the fact that this is a very influential time for kiddos and if their teachers say something is true, chances are they’re going to believe it.
That’s why I still don’t get why creationism can’t be taught at all in public school. I understand that there is a strong element of religion and I get that we need to keep that whole “separation of church and state” thing. But I’m not talking about teaching creationism as a way of endorsing it.
Think about it. What if we were to just teach the kids that there are various ways that different people have to explain how/why the universe exists and how we got here. Some people believe that it was random chance, evolution and natural selection over the course of billions of years.
Other people believe that there is a supernatural, omnipotent being who designed and created the whole universe and all the living creatures in it. There are variations with regards to Islam, Christianity, Judaism and various other religious groups. But this supernatural being is a common element shared by most of them.
There. That’s all. No preaching. No proselytizing. Didn’t even mention God or Jesus or salvation. Just, “here’s what some people believe.”
I just don’t see why that’s such a terrible thing. Atheists are fond of claiming that we should let children decide for themselves, but then we only give them half the story in school. How can they decide if they don’t know what the different options are that they’re deciding on?
Grace, love and peace.
