> > Not in school, and not in science class. In comparative religion, > maybe, but it's hard enough to teach good science without adding a > load of creation myths to the course. And that's the issue - "Both > sides"? No - because if they allow "both sides" they have to allow ALL > sides. That means Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, Aboriginal... If you really > wanted to cover what EVERY religion says about creation, there > wouldn't be time for any science at all.
I'm not sure if teaching "both sides" cannot be done in a course that teaches science. It requires, though, a course on science itself, not on any particular science. But, that's not a bad thing. In the US, we have bio, chem, physics, and general science or earth science as the options for 4 years of science. A one year course on how science works, drawing from simple examples in biology, physics, cosmology, etc...including discussions of how theories are actually developed, changed, etc. would be worthwhile. I could see such a course covering why Newton was right about physics and wrong about astrology and alchemy, as well as discussing "creation science". I probably could sit down, and with a month or so of work, have a pretty good basis for a year's course in this. I would guess that I'd need help making sure my course was age appropriate, but I think it could be done straightforwardly. Now, politically, this would be impossible because creation science would fail miserably. Even when put in a religious context (e.g. Sunday School classes), it fails. As I have told fundamentalists "are you so sure you know the mind of God so well that you can develop theories of science with better predicting power from that knowledge than using God's gifts of observation and reason to develop those theories?" But, on principal, a course that seriously evaluated creation science, the vaccine-autism correlation, astrology, and Gaianism as theories of science alongside biology, chemistry, and physics would be worthwhile in teaching what science really is. Dan M. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
