Admissible and Inadmissible Evidence in the National Science Standards is continued below as Part III. The condensed version of this article is published in the April 2015 edition of the AFA Journal. http://bit.ly/1Fb7tO1
Public school students are in a position where everyone is taught Darwin’s proposal that all living things, including humans, originated from a common single-celled ancestor. Regardless of whether or not a disclaimer is added that God may have guided the process, Darwinian evolution is taught in public schools without scientific challenges and as the only scientifically accepted possibility for our origins. Attempts to include scientific creationism or intelligent design have been struck down by courts as state-sponsored religious ideas.
The case of COPE vs. Kansas Board of Education has yet to be decided. Parents are suing the Board because the state-approved science curriculum teaches an exclusively atheistic explanation for origins. Christian parents are rightfully concerned about how such teaching will affect the worldviews and Christian beliefs of their children. The Next Generation Science Standards proposes that the principles of naturalistic evolution be taught from K-12, even expanding to the origin and history of the earth and the universe.
In Part Two of Admissible and Inadmissible Evidence, I wrote about how parents could counter the effects of a required naturalistic evolutionary curriculum. One very effective method is to for parents to help their students find and discuss with them solid scientific challenges to Darwinian evolution.
I mentioned several quality sources in Part II that allow parents to easily identify and find scientific challenges to evolution. Parents should start by identifying the topics that are being studied by their children and then determining if they are causing a problem regarding their child’s Christian beliefs and worldview. Here are some other good resources that were not mentioned in the AFA Journal article or in Admissible and Inadmissible Evidence, Parts I and II.
The Creation Studies Institute, www.creationstudies.org, under director Tom DeRosa provides a number of great articles that challenge naturalistic theories of origins. Go to “articles” and then to “science” for specific topics.
John Naughton started www.evolutionthelie.com for his son who attended public school. He wanted him to have scientific answers that would challenge what his son was being taught about evolution. This site is divided into different areas of science that make it easier to find specific topics.
The Institute for Creation Research, www.ICR.org, has a collection of topics that can be easily searched. Go to “resources” and choose from the list of topics.
Finally, the following is a true firsthand account from one remarkable student about how she and her parents approached a biology class that included a strong emphasis on evolution. She tells how she met the challenges to her personal beliefs and adds her personal advice to others as well. I’m adding this to encourage other Christian families to use such situations as opportunities to help their students increase their faith rather than allow it to be weakened.
A Bible-Believing Christian in a Public High School
I’m a freshman in public high school this year (2014-15). Up until now the extent of science has been a simple application of things that we all must know to continue on to the next grade. Now, as a 9th-grader, the way science is taught has significantly changed.
At my school, the freshman-designated science is Biology 101. In biology, we cover all of the studies of life but the foundation of this course is evolution, which is a vey controversial topic. Evolution is taught as a fact and the study of all specific groups of living things are built around it. This confused me greatly seeing as it relies on very little substantial evidence, and the major Darwinian theory of common descent (we all evolved from one common organism) has no real evidence. Even though this subject area is only one possible explanation of the origin of everything my teacher breezed over that and did not suggest any alternative. Evolution was the only theory about origins presented to students in the curriculum. When evolution is taught in this manner, it might as well be considered a fact to someone who knows no better.
As a Bible-believing Christian, this bothered me. Not only do I believe that Jesus died on the cross to pay the debt for my sins, and then rose from the dead—I believe the Bible in its entirety. It is God’s Word, from Genesis to Revelation. The Bible tells me that God created the universe in six days. It said that He created every star, every animal, every ocean and we human beings. I believe that we come from a common Creator, not common descent. However, the concept of the creative design is thrown out the window in Biology, calling it a “pseudoscience.”
The way I approached this problem was quite simple. I learned all I could from my teacher about evolution’s own ideas and facts. It especially interested me that by the textbook’s own definition, “Pseudoscience is a claim, belief or practice which is falsely presented as scientific, but does not adhere to a valid scientific method, cannot be reliably tested or otherwise lacked scientific status.” My curriculum told me that it would not teach pseudoscience, but later in the year, sneaks in evolution as fact. Evolution is an explanation that is not backed up by enough evidence to be viable, and cannot possibly be tested in a laboratory. This labels evolution itself as a pseudoscience.
In all honesty, there is no way to look at the fossils or layers in the rock and say definitely that my own or their opinion is correct but we must agree on one thing: Darwinian evolution is a faith. Evolutionists put their faith in insubstantial facts presented to them by the “top scientists.” The only way I was able to hold fast to my faith in science class this year was to remember that what I was being taught is not fact. If anything, there is more evidence to support the early occurrences of the Old Testament than anything Darwinian evolution has to offer. As I was presented something in class, I was always the one asking questions, such as, “What evidence is there for that?” , “Why do you assume that?”, or “Explain the reasoning behind that.”
Often, nobody asks the question, and therefore they do not know that the authorities often have no answer. Do not simply take what is presented to you as fact. Ask questions and understand their own arguments more than they themselves do.
During the part of the year in which I was being taught evolution, a creation conference came to my town. My family and I attended and we even bought a few videos to watch at home. These were a great help in supporting my own belief as well as refuting many of the evolutionary explanations. After watching a video, my family and I would compare and contrast what it said to what I was learning in school. This helped me differentiate between assumptions that were made in class about evolution and scientific facts that, when isolated, pointed in an entirely different direction. It made me realize that a lot of what I was taught in my school was, indeed assumptions.
I talked about my science lessons everyday after school with my family. In a way, we all went through the instruction of public school together. After watching the videos and asking hard questions at school, I came to understand many of the “evidences” Darwinian evolutionists used are actually assumptions. By the end of the unit on evolution, I found that my faith in the Bible had not weakened, but had been strengthened.
On the final exam of the evolution unit, I received the best grade in the class. I did not have to give up my faith in order to succeed in academics. I approached my faith being challenge by evolution with the acknowledgement that I could not compromise in what I believed. I believed completely in the World of God.
When you understand that the explanation evolutionists put their faith in is, in fact a faith, then you will be able to successfully navigate the subject without the compromise of your own belief. The Holy Spirit gives us the ability to understand spiritual truths and God’s creation is one of these truths. For example, someone who does to have the Holy Spirit in them may not be able to understand that God specifically created us in His own image. It is your responsibility, as a Christian, to encourage the people who will simply take evolution as a fact to question what they are being taught—but to do this with respect and courtesy. Be a light in your classroom and wherever you go, and do not waver in what you believe.