Throughout the last two centuries the world was growing more and more secular, and it was correspondingly expressed in the way public education has been formed. One of the questions belonging to this theme that has led to the most controversy is this – should creationism be taught in public schools? The opponents of the idea state that secular society shouldn’t finance religious education. The supporters say that it is not so much as religion but the inherent part of culture and to remove it would be disastrous.
To my mind, both parties see the subject somewhat askew. On the one hand, if we don’t teach creationist theory, then what? Do we state that there is no God who has created the world, or do we simply not specify this? The problem here is that if we don’t mention God, we automatically teach atheism, and it is just the same intrusion in a person’s set of beliefs as imposing creationism on him or her. On the other hand, if we teach creationism, how do we do it? Do we say that God shaped the world out of the piece of clay as the narrations for children tend to do? Believe me, if you want to avert a person from faith, there is no better way to do it – he won’t forgive you for such explanation when he grows up.
The fact is, there are absolutely no proofs for either of theories; moreover, none of the scientific theories of the appearance of this world contradict creationism in the only meaningful respect they both have – whether the world was created or appeared spontaneously. Any scientific theory may be interpreted in any way. Thus, in my opinion, there is no reason not to teach creationism – if it is rightly put.