Teaching religion in a science class?

Background:

In Hong Kong, the new senior secondary school biology and combined science curriculum effective from September 2009 contain a statement in the part of evolution that may encourage unscientific theories to be propagated in science classes.

The related passage reads: "In addition to Darwin's theory, students are encouraged to explore other explanations for evolution and the origins of life, to help illustrate the dynamic nature of scientific knowledge."

News media reported that at least 31 secondary schools in Hong Kong have already admitted to teach Creationism and/or Intelligent Design as an alternative to the theory of evolution during science lessons.

The Education Bureau first turned their back to the complaining scientists from the University of Hong Kong, but later stated in a TV program that creationism is not “considered as an alternative to Darwin’s theory”.

In the same TV program a secondary school principal lashed out at the scientists for being narrow-minded by expelling religious ideas. Another secondary school principal said on the newspaper that "Our religious belief does not approve of evolution" .

In early May 2009, a group of 62 people, including educators and scientists, signed a statement calling for controversial guidelines to be retained because it is "stimulating, balanced, non-biased and has worked well" .

To date, the theory of evolution is the only robust and established scientific theory regarding the biodiversity on Earth. It has stood numerous tests ever since publishing, and is supported by overwhelming evidence and confirmed by other areas of sciences like biochemistry, genetics, anatomy, physics and geology.

This central theory in biology has substantially contributed to many of the greatest scientific and technological advancements in modern medicine and agriculture, thus has saved many lives and improved their living.

The other "explanations", such as Creationism or Intelligent Design, are not even consistent with the definition of science, and have been dismissed by scientists worldwide as pseudo-sciences with strong reasons. Scientists have already stated openly and widely that these unscientific ideas should not be taught in science classes .

The problematic statement in the new biology and combined science syllabuses will open a loophole for pseudo-sciences, resulting in a great damage to quality education in Hong Kong, whereby knowledge on the theory and fact of evolution of life on Earth are being concealed, denied, or confused with ideas or notions not testable by science, and thus contradicts the objectives of science education.

There are evidences showing damages have already been made to science education, as schools and teachers with religious background unscrupulously teach Creationism and Intelligent Design during science classes.

Education Bureau, as stated in its vision statement, is responsible for providing quality education to our next generation; it must address this problem seriously and with urgency, and clearly expresses their position publicly, to prevent this problem from further spoiling Hong Kong’s international image.

My comment:

I have changed my earlier title because it may sound a bit offensive, but to me, Christianity is really a stone-aged belief system. It was initially created by the Hebrews and later propogated to the whole world when all of the teachings in the Old Testament were clearly only meant for the Hebrews (or Jewish). Some of the examples including the idea of Messiah to save the world (when in the Old Testament, Messiah was meant to save the Jews only), slavery (according to the bible, all foreigners other than Jews can be LEGITIMATELY enslaved, just read my earlier post on this). I used to believe so deeply in it when I was ignorant about all these issues in the bible, when I did not think critically about these issues and when I was unaware that all these hidden issues can be so hurtful to certain groups of people (like women, gays, black people who used to be enslaved etc, non-believers etc).

And I think this book is not only hurtful and offensive to some of the fellow human who do nothing but just being who they are or who they are born to be, it is also an impediment to the human progress. I always believe that if you intend to learn more about the universe (natural science), learn more about the society and human behaviour (social science), you have to first admit that you're so ignorant on many things. There are still so many things out there that you don't know about, you have to first humble yourself and admit your ignorance in order to appreciate the awe that the knowledge of the universe can bring you.

Learning new things works best when you don't have pre-supposition or judgement about things that you want to learn. When you have the following presumptions in mind:

1. There must be a God

2. Universe must be created by a God

3. God must have created the universe in 6 days

4. No other theory is right, bible, which was written thousands of years ago, must be right

how can you learn new knowledge? How could you continue filling water into a glass that has already been filled? What else is there for you to research or prove about the origin of life if you believe that everything is created by God (which is not provable at all)? That to me, is more of an excuse to slack and inhibit the progress of humankind to discover new knowledge, it's totally not helpful to human progress at all. Why should we teach this kind of wishful/unhelpful thinking or attitude to children in school, and to make the matter worse, in a science class?

Life is full of uncertainties, full of unknowns, full of possibilities. I'm willing to admit that I'm not well-read enough to know all about the origin of life, to know all about the history of humankind on earth. I'm willing to admit that I know too little, and many of the times, I don't have answers to many questions, eg: Does God exist? Does God create all of us and the universe? My honest answer is "I don't know". The one that says he/she knows, is either lying, or being misled by some people or some books (which is written by people and claimed to be written by God) to think that he/she knows the answer.

As a child, I used to demand for certainty, everything must be either in black or white, good or evil, good guy or bad guy, and what bible says must be the truth. But hey, we grow up, and growing up means accepting more uncertainties and grey areas, it means you have to think more for yourselves and no more standard answer to spoon-feed you. Many values I learn as a child, are either too simplistic or inconsistent with each other. I learn to exercise more critical thinking and evaluate them as I grow up and acquire more knowledge about the world, either through interaction with people from different backgrounds, countries, genders, or cultures or through reading books about people's experience, scientific discoveries or simply thinking about it.

Everyday, everywhere, every moment and every occasion, I see learning opportunity, that is the day when I realise that bible is no longer, and can no longer be the guidance of my life, that there is no standard answer there for me to rely upon as the source of truth.

Source:

http://www.gopetition.com/online/28149.html