The Quest
“The quest of several Dover Area School Board members to find a high school biology textbook that teaches both evolution and creationism…” And so a recent news article begins.
It is a quest. Good word choice. I don’t know the writer of the article and I don’t know the school board members but I do know that a quest is significant.
Whatever the outcome of the quest, whether or not evolution and creationism are taught side by side for intelligent minds to consider, the quest to do so is a good thing.
I applaud the quest. To go on a quest is to be willing to learn and grow and challenge and change and be changed. A noble endeavor.
In this quest there is no absolute human opponent. There are varieties of opinions and persons and groups who will decide for a time what may be taught in Dover High School. But the only absolute in this world is God.
God is not appalled or surprised or humiliated when ideas collide. After all, God created us to think, to grow by being challenged to consider ideas different than our own. God loves a good and free discussion on a variety of possibilities.
For God, it’s not about law suits it’s about the truth. Sure we have to deal with law suits and the expanding cost of them. But what is at stake here? An editorial states that “Academic opponents of creation “science” cite creationism as a clear threat to American science given the high stakes issue of the future could be biotechnology.”
Wow! Creationism as a clear threat to American science! I thought science was science, not American science. I thought the search for scientific principles would not only allow for but demand that opposing views be respected and debated. In this process new theories and ideas on how the world operates would not only expand our minds but lead to practical applications to help people today.
Scientists know that cutting off debate in scientific journals doesn’t help science, it stifles it. Likewise, keeping the creationist and evolutionist views from high school students doesn’t help our students to grow into the discerning scholars and scientists needed.
The quest will continue. As well it should.
--Rich Thornton
Dover, PA
6-14-04
“The quest of several Dover Area School Board members to find a high school biology textbook that teaches both evolution and creationism…” And so a recent news article begins.
It is a quest. Good word choice. I don’t know the writer of the article and I don’t know the school board members but I do know that a quest is significant.
Whatever the outcome of the quest, whether or not evolution and creationism are taught side by side for intelligent minds to consider, the quest to do so is a good thing.
I applaud the quest. To go on a quest is to be willing to learn and grow and challenge and change and be changed. A noble endeavor.
In this quest there is no absolute human opponent. There are varieties of opinions and persons and groups who will decide for a time what may be taught in Dover High School. But the only absolute in this world is God.
God is not appalled or surprised or humiliated when ideas collide. After all, God created us to think, to grow by being challenged to consider ideas different than our own. God loves a good and free discussion on a variety of possibilities.
For God, it’s not about law suits it’s about the truth. Sure we have to deal with law suits and the expanding cost of them. But what is at stake here? An editorial states that “Academic opponents of creation “science” cite creationism as a clear threat to American science given the high stakes issue of the future could be biotechnology.”
Wow! Creationism as a clear threat to American science! I thought science was science, not American science. I thought the search for scientific principles would not only allow for but demand that opposing views be respected and debated. In this process new theories and ideas on how the world operates would not only expand our minds but lead to practical applications to help people today.
Scientists know that cutting off debate in scientific journals doesn’t help science, it stifles it. Likewise, keeping the creationist and evolutionist views from high school students doesn’t help our students to grow into the discerning scholars and scientists needed.
The quest will continue. As well it should.
--Rich Thornton
Dover, PA
6-14-04
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