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Tackling the beast of Creationism

Greetings to all fellow atheists. Perhaps some of you feel as strongly as I do about the craziness of teaching Creationism as anything more than a myth. I would have liked to just have treated this as part of the "darker side of humanity" and let it die out. Unfortunately, little children are taught this myth as fact. I would like to pool together ideas on the community's experience with Creationism, and find ways to end it! It can be a personal experience, something that happened in the workplace, or something you heard on TV or read online.

Tags: atheism, creationism, darwin, evolution

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Comment by Elliott Zaresky-Williams on December 29, 2012 at 5:34pm: I attended a Catholic high school, so I had religion classes. during my sophomore year, in my religion class, we were taught creationism. Because I wasn't paying much attention, I paid no mind to it. However, ever since I started studying geology, biology, zoology and the like in my spare time, one thing she said keeps playing in my head over and over again. "You can believe in evolution, as long as you also believe in creationism." As in, you can either believe in creationism, or creationism and evolution, not just evolution. If I could go back to myself a years ago in that class room, I would've raised hell. Evolution and global warming are not political issues. They are scientific facts, and anytime someone attaches emotion to them, they are just being plain stupid. You can discuss the economy, health care and foreign policy in a political context, but not science. It's almost always the extreme right-wing ignoramuses who turn it into something else.

Comment by Randall Smith on December 29, 2012 at 7:46am: I was an earth science teacher who used a book that refused to use the word "evolution" in describing fossils, eras, life changes, etc. While I was never directly criticised or rebuked, my principal got a few phone calls regarding my innuendoes on creationism vs. evolution. I tried to be fair-sided. Yeah, right!

Comment by John Aultman on December 27, 2012 at 1:51pm: I do see some changes on the horizon and while they are small hopefully they will grow.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/19/new-orleans-school-bans-cr...

As a computer geek, science freak and atheist I would tell friends with kids in public school to monitor classes especially science classes to see and hear what is being taught. Ask your kids if any of the teachers talk about their religion or condemn others for their belief's or say that evolution is not true and if they do go to the principal and superintendent and complain.

Comment by Elliott Zaresky-Williams on December 25, 2012 at 10:48pm: The real problem is that young children are being taught this myth. Trying to convince a Creationist that evolution is true is like throwing a banana at a train hoping it will stop. The best way I think is to raise public awareness of the issue. Thankfully, only fundamentalists fight with "evolution." If I were a science teacher, I'd definitely be teaching evolution to little kids. They need to know about it. In addition, they need to know that while evolution doesn't conflict with religious beliefs, but that creationism conflicts will all scientific evidence.