Creationism

Having been raised as a fundamentalist, I think I have a unique understanding of the problems facing fundamentalism. I wrestled for years with science and its conflict with what I took to be the absolute truth of the Bible. The fundamentalist position is really very precarious even though it is very firmly held; in other words it is brittle and subject to shattering. Since the fundamentalist believes that the Bible (or whatever religious text is involved) is the absolute inerrant word of God, it follows that if he ever acknowledges that the Bible is incorrect on anything his whole belief system starts to crumble because if there is one single error in the Bible then the Bible is, by definition, not the word of God. If it is wrong on any point, then how do you know where it is right and where it is wrong. Many fundamentalists have difficulty with science since they believe their religious beliefs are based on the inerrant word of God and science says things that, if true, would disprove some of their religious views.

Proponents of religion in the classroom think they are winning a battle by forcing the teaching of religion as science alongside evolution in the schools. I think they have made a huge mistake. The Bible will not fair well in an either/or head-to-head with science. Science gets stronger by challenging and trying to disprove ideas whereas religion gets weaker when you stop just believing on faith and start asking questions. The real strength of science is to put forth ideas and then try to disprove them. When scientists disprove an idea, they revise the idea to fit the facts and get closer to the truth. Religion on the other hand starts out claiming they have the complete truth and any questioning weakens the religious position. If you start subjecting religious claims to science, the claims start falling apart in the face of verifiable facts. Religion can’t compete with science in science’s venue of proof just as science can’t compete with religion in religion’s venue of faith.

What the proponents of teaching religion in the classroom as science have failed to understand is this: When creationism is taught as science alongside evolution in the classroom, it reduces religion to just another scientific theory subject to disproof. Religion winds up fighting science on science's turf.