The Like/Hate Thread

[Ashe]

Actually, my entire problem is primarily three things. One - You are wanting to teach religion in science class under the disguise of being fair (yet you would be appalled if someone then expected you to teach evolution in Sunday school). However, when mentioning this, only Christianity is considered. What if, in order to be fair and teach of a creation, Islam were to be used in the Science room to show their version of creation? What about the Norse belief? What about Greek mythology? How much hell would be raised if someone were to be teaching these other religions as "alternative theories" and not Christianity? Why is it that teaching Christianity's creation theory in addition to evolution "means a fair and balanced science class" (which isn't science in the first place) and you don't mind excluding all other religions but would be pretty pissed if yours were the excluded?
Two - There is no controversy. The only people who do not agree with it do so for entirely religious reasons.
Three - Which controversy? You know, gravity is also "only a theory". Let's teach that magic spirits hold onto our feet to keep us from floating off the earth as an alternate, for the sake of fairness. What about "Germ Theory"? Should we give equal argument to the previous belief that being sick was simply demonic possession and that scientists are possibly wrong about the existence of germs? Perhaps we discuss the Flat Earth Society's beliefs that the earth is flat? Perhaps (since we love to ignore arguments that are debunked and restate them many years later) we should revisit the heliocentric/geocentric argument? Perhaps we should spend half of Chemistry class NOT teaching Chemistry and instead giving fair time for the discussion of Alchemy instead? Some people like to tell others that the stork delivers kids instead of vaginal birth. Should Astrology be taught alongside Astronomy? Should we teach that perhaps magic is what keeps things running the way they do rather than physics?

Education quickly gets lost in the noise and we have to step back and realize that this isn't about "what's fair and giving both sides" - Its about finding a way to put one culture's specific religion into schools because your specific religion happens to disagree with reality regarding a very specific feature and you absolutely can't stand it. This is precisely WHY America has safeguards in place to not teach things that are not factually and evidentially supported. Believe as you will and no one is walking into your church demanding you teach differently (if so, Westboro Baptist Church would have some problems), but unless it can be tested with the scientific method and repeatedly tested to the same outcome (not a one time occurrence "miracle" that you witnessed in private somewhere that defied physics but DAMMIT it deserves equal time!) then it has no reason to be in schools. End of story.