Author: Doug Sharp
Subject: Social Issues
Date: 02/05/2006
A judge’s decision at Dover, Pennsylvania that forbids the mention of intelligent design in science classrooms is yet another example of the dilemma that Christian parents face in public education. One of the mandates of our faith is to bring our children up in the knowledge of God. According to the scriptures, if we fail to do so, our children will face serious consequences.
“And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do these things which are not convenient:
Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whisperers,
Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.” Romans 1:28-32.
The current situation in the public school where the only worldview taught is naturalistic evolution creates a condition of discriminatory harassment. This is against the law in most states and we believe that the civil rights of Christians are being violated. Since teachers in the public school are forbidden to mention God or teach science with the possibility of investigating origins related to God, they create a situation where the religion of atheism or other religions that have evolution as a tenet of their faith have an advantage over Christians who believe the Bible is the word of God, and believe that their origin was from special creation by an intelligent designer. Christians who do not believe in evolution are required to subsidize schools that do through taxation. If a Christian wants to fulfill their Biblical command to bring up their children in the knowledge of God and teach them the scientific evidence against evolution, they must pay tuition to a private school. These schools also face the problem that many of the potential teachers for their children are brought up in a public school or university that discriminates against those who wish to question evolution, and are unprepared to teach science from a Biblical perspective.
For the most part, Christians do not like to accuse others of discriminatory harassment. They figure that it is a poor witness of their faith to retaliate or go to the law when they receive abuse. Furthermore, many Christians do not understand the extent of the damage that is done to a child when they are taught that their origin is not from God, but from random physical processes. Many Christian suppress the issue in their mind, and some think that it is possible to believe in the Bible and evolution, too. But this kind of compromise results in a theology that is vastly different from that taught in the Bible. The fact that some people say that you can believe in God and evolution too does not negate the fact that there are those who disagree. And if we are forbidden to reveal evidence that demonstrates that evolution is untrue, that is discrimination.
Here are some further examples:
1. State universities refusing to admit homeschool students because they may have been taught creation science.
2. Universities refusing to accept credits from other institutions that teach intelligent design.
3. Biology professors who give students bad grades because they believe in creation or are Christians.
4. Secular, tax-sponsored publications that will not publish creationist material.
5. Christian science teachers who are refused positions in public schools.
6. Science professors who are denied tenure or lose their jobs because they speak openly about their faith in God.
7. Science editors fired or demoted because they publish material on creation or intelligent design.
In Michigan and Oklahoma, bills have been introduced that protect teachers from this type of discrimination in the name of academic freedom. I believe that this is the only fair thing to do, and we must realize that a teacher does not necessarily represent the state, but is free as an individual to air his own opinions as long as he states it as such. This goes for any person of any religion.