Christianity and Science

In the third chapter of Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism, Goldberg discusses the on-going argument of teaching creationism, which is often disguised as Intelligent Design. She considers the different techniques that Intelligent Design supporters use to coerce the subject into schools. First, creationism is disguised as Intelligent Design. In Intelligent Design, religion is played down and scientific speech is employed to make it seem more like an actual science, not the pseudoscience it really is. Intelligent Design supporters also obtain degrees in areas that qualify their opinions, and become publicly active through groups like the CSC. These supporters plan strategic approaches, such as "The Wedge Strategy" to manipulate their ideas into the mainstream.

The article I read, Most Beautiful and Most Wonderful: Why Darwin is Still Right, discusses the importance of educating ourselves about Intelligent Design and evolution. The supporters of Intelligent Design know their stuff; and consequently could win an argument with an evolutionist. To combat the infiltration of Intelligent Design in schools today, we need to know more about Charles Darwin's theory and the theory of Intelligent Design. In most debates, it doesn't matter so much the material that is being debated upon, but on the debaters themselves. Putting an end to the teaching on Intelligent Design rests in the knowledge of evolutionists.

I attended a private Christian high school. For our freshman year, we were required to take 'Earth Science.' It was basically a class taught to cement the ideas of creationism. The class did touch upon Evolution, but in such a way that you were considered an idiot if you agreed with the text book. The teacher and students actually laughed about how lost evolutionists were. I can't speak for other private religious schools--but it is a shame that they have the power to choose to educate their students or to shroud them in ignorance. It should not be a choice for the individual school to make. Goldberg explains that a school doesn't need permission to teach Intelligent Design--that all they need is a mandate to teach "the scientific strengths and weaknesses of evolutionary theory." This allows Intelligent Design to end up in the classroom just the same.


Works Cited:

Goldberg, Michelle. Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism. New York, New York. W. W. Norton & Company. 2006.

Most Beautiful and Most Wonderful: Why Darwin is Still Right. Virginia Quarterly Review, Vol. 82 Issue 2, p1-3. 2006.