Posted by Letitia in Cheshire @ 10:58 on Jul 19 2011

Those who are claiming that the creation/evolution debate should not be taught in schools never cite any evidence that such a thing would be harmful. In fact, evidence is accumulating that there are many benefits when such a debate is permitted. Pupils who are taught this way do extremely well in GCSE exams and many go on to excel a science at a higher level. This is only to be expected as the ability to critique scientific ideas is one of the most important means by which science progresses - it is a central tenet of the scientific process. I do not understand why there should be such an hysterical campaign to deny pupils the opportunity to critique Darwinism. Could it be the fear that Darwinism could not stand up to such a process? I have noticed that the creationists are usually the ones who wish to debate the evidence while their opponents so often descend to mockery and personal abuse. Professor Micheal Reiss, an evolutionist and expert on these issues, has argued both that such mockery, scorn and bullying is what should not be permitted whereas to debate the issues in the science classroom is not a bad thing. He also has recently pointed out that creationism does indeed involve scientific ideas, such as the interpretation of the fossil record, the limits of variation etc. Perhaps the boot is on the other foot and it is the opponents of debate who are blinded by prejudice?