Should Creationism be taught in classrooms?

[otseng]

Should Creationism be taught in classrooms (as science)?
More specifically, should it be taught in public schools?
If so, how should it be taught as a science?

[TQWcS]

And Stephen Hawking even ventures to touch what happened before the Big Bang.

Indeed here is what he had to say on the subject, "Together with Roger Penrose, I developed a new set of mathematical techniques, for dealing with this and similar problems. We showed that if General Relativity was correct, any reasonable model of the universe must start with a singularity. This would mean that science could predict that the universe must have had a beginning, but that it could not predict how the universe should begin: for that one would have to appeal to God." Stephen W. Hawking. "

Einstien did the same. He knew that the theory of relativity implied that there was a beginning. So, he added a cosmological constant to the equation to attempt to get rid of the beginning. He said this was one of the worst mistakes of his life. Einstien finally came to believe in a God stating, "I believe in Spinoza's God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns himself with fates and actions of human beings." Edwin Hubble also came to the conclusion that the universe had a beginning.

[ENIGMA]

But, to your last sentence above: you want alternative theories presented. Specifically, what theories would you present, and how would you present them scientifically?

An alternate theory I would present is Creationism. Using science, it is not possible to prove Creationism to be absolutely true. By gathering evidence, it is only possible to prove it more and MORE true.

...or to disprove it, assuming that one is forbidden to pull a miracle out of one's hat every minute.

This is not simply the case with Creationism, but with almost every other theory out there, including Gravity. I would present Creationism scientifically by explaining other theories, the problems they have and why they do NOT work. Then I would present the theory of Creationism by saying that it will ALWAYS work in EVERY situation.

Even when Creationism is not, in fact, the correct theory? Fascinating.

Creationism fills in the holes of evolution, which you say are minor, even to the smallest degree. How does that NOT qualify it as a good theory? What better evidence to support it than the evidence that it works in every possible case?

For the purposes of this question I hereby have decided to create a new word:

Querplankanite - Defined as the perfectly correct answer to any given question.

So now, according to your arguments, I have just solved each and every single question that anyone could ever hope to solve:

How did the Universe Begin? Querplankanite.
Who was the first person to speak English? Querplankanite.
Does intellegent alien life exist? Querplankanite.
etc.

Except the one problem with it is that it provides no better understanding of the various questions asked, and thus has no potential to develop human understanding of the world around us. In other words, an answer that works regardless of whatever pieces of evidence that could potentially be found is worthless, since if it were wrong, there would be no basis for making that determination.

And as for observable evidence, there are MANY theories that are based on less observable evidence - but because they WORK mathematically and logically, they are considered credible. Such theories as the shape and structure of the Universe, theory involving Black Holes, and Dark Matter.

If you discredit Creationism as a valid science, how can you BEGIN to touch the Big Bang Theory?!?

Creationism has no math and little logic of which to speak.

[adherent]

Well bud, seeying has how you feel about creationism, I feel the same way you do about creationism to evolution. In this country, where everything is done to ensure the peoples happiness, we should also consider things like: not pressuring people into believing evolution. I have as much rights as you do to accept or reject some doctrine that attempts to explain what man may never know.

So you think creationism is a hoax and evolution is about the best we've got, well i disagree. People may still say that evolution has the most proof, but doesn't mean its true, what? Should have an equal playing field for all explanations of the origins of life and the earth.

[chrispalasz]

...or to disprove it, assuming that one is forbidden to pull a miracle out of one's hat every minute.

Well that's obvious. Disprove that the Earth is round. Can't do it? That's because it's round. Is that unscientific? No. It's fact.

Querplankanite - Defined as the perfectly correct answer to every question.

Now all you need to do is get that word added to the dictionary. Fine. You can have your ridiculous word. But I must warn you... in the context of the origin of life, the universe, and everything... God is synonymous to Querplankanite.

Even when Creationsim is not, in fact, the correct theory? Fascinating.

Well one day, when you feel up to it... when you're sorry - or distraught - or in pain or confusion, why don't you sinscerely pray for Jesus Christ to forgive your sins and to recieve the Holy Spirit? And if you do that... when that day comes, you can tell God yourself that his methods are not correct.

I will pray that you meet God under these circumstances... and not any other.

[Lucifer]

If god exists. What makes you so sure? And don't tell me you saw him, research suggests it's considered a mental problem with your brain.

[ENIGMA]

...or to disprove it, assuming that one is forbidden to pull a miracle out of one's hat every minute.

Well that's obvious. Disprove that the Earth is round. Can't do it? That's because it's round. Is that unscientific? No. It's fact.

If the Earth was flat could you disprove that it was round? Certainly, toss something off the side.

If, however, there wasn't an invisible dragon in Carl Sagan's garage, then how would one disprove it?

Querplankanite - Defined as the perfectly correct answer to every question.

Now all you need to do is get that word added to the dictionary. Fine. You can have your ridiculous word. But I must warn you... in the context of the origin of life, the universe, and everything... God is synonymous to Querplankanite.

Thank you for proving my point.

Querplankanite is obviously an answer of no substance whatsoever that I extracted from my nether regions, which, when one gets right down to it, says absolutely squat about what it claims to answer.

...and the rest, you provide.

Even when Creationsim is not, in fact, the correct theory? Fascinating.

Well one day, when you feel up to it... when you're sorry - or distraught - or in pain or confusion, why don't you sinscerely pray for Jesus Christ to forgive your sins and to recieve the Holy Spirit? And if you do that... when that day comes, you can tell God yourself that his methods are not correct.

That's nice, dear.

I will pray that you meet God under these circumstances... and not any other.[/quote]

Why is it that believers often seem to wish ill upon those who don't follow their belief system?

[chrispalasz]

Querplankanite - Defined as the perfectly correct answer to every question.

Now all you need to do is get that word added to the dictionary. Fine. You can have your ridiculous word. But I must warn you... in the context of the origin of life, the universe, and everything... God is synonymous to Querplankanite.

Thank you for proving my point.

Querplankanite is obviously an answer of no substance whatsoever that I extracted from my nether regions, which, when one gets right down to it, says absolutely squat about what it claims to answer.

...and the rest, you provide.

Yeah, you made up the word Querplankanite. So what? It's a word. "Earth" is a word that was made up too. Big deal - does that mean that what we associate the word "Earth" to, does not exist? No.

I don't think you missed my point, so I won't explain too much. I was only humoring your new word and definition. If the question is, "what is 1+1?" the answer is "Querplankanite", according to your definition. In that case, Querplankanite is synonymous with the number 2. Actually... if Querplankanite is the correct answer to every question... it's synonymous with every word in an appropriate context.

Querplankanite is nothing. You made it up. Nobody made up God.

Lucifer
If god exists. What makes you so sure? And don't tell me you saw him, research suggests it's considered a mental problem with your brain.

No, I've never seen God with my eyes. But all Christians do know there is a God and we do talk to Him and He does talk back to us. All Christians accept that we all ignore or have broken God's laws and done things that are wrong in our lives - and that we, in very nature, are born that way. So any human that repents and goes to God as sinner and asks Jesus Christ to forgive his/her sins and prays that he/she will recieve the Holy Spirit - God will grant that request.

If you have the Holy Spirit inside of you... you know there's a God because He's talking to you at all times. That's how we know.[/quote]

[Lucifer]

No, I've never seen God with my eyes. But all Christians do know there is a God and we do talk to Him and He does talk back to us. All Christians accept that we all ignore or have broken God's laws and done things that are wrong in our lives - and that we, in very nature, are born that way. So any human that repents and goes to God as sinner and asks Jesus Christ to forgive his/her sins and prays that he/she will recieve the Holy Spirit - God will grant that request.

If you have the Holy Spirit inside of you... you know there's a God because He's talking to you at all times. That's how we know.

So how do you know you're not talking to yourself when you think you're talking to God? How do you know he's not just some figment of your imagination? That could be a mental problem with the brain. This might be difficult to argue or discuss with you, if you're going to keep bringing up God like this every second post. Why do I need to ask someone to beg forgiveness anyways? I accept that I'm imperfect and that I make mistakes, but I don't need to be forgiven for them; I'll always be that way. In fact, I'm happier that way. I seriously don't see how God (if he exists) doesn't get bored of being perfect or supernatural.

[dangerdan]

No, I've never seen God with my eyes. But all Christians do know there is a God and we do talk to Him and He does talk back to us. All Christians accept that we all ignore or have broken God's laws and done things that are wrong in our lives - and that we, in very nature, are born that way. So any human that repents and goes to God as sinner and asks Jesus Christ to forgive his/her sins and prays that he/she will recieve the Holy Spirit - God will grant that request.

If you have the Holy Spirit inside of you... you know there's a God because He's talking to you at all times. That's how we know

Interesting. Whatever your thoughts on Santa are, do you agree then with this following reasoning….

No, I've never seen Santa with my eyes. But all people that believe in Santa do know there is a Santa and we do talk to Him and He does talk back to us. All people that believe in Santa accept that we all ignore or have broken Santa's laws and done things that are wrong in our lives (ie, naughty, not nice) - and that we, in very nature, are born that way. So any human that repents and goes to Santa as sinner (ie- someone naughty) and asks Santa to forgive his/her sins and prays that he/she will receive presents at Christmas - Santa will grant that request.

If you have the Santa Spirit inside of you... you know there's a Santa because He's talking to you at all times. That's how we know

[ENIGMA]

Querplankanite - Defined as the perfectly correct answer to every question.

Yeah, you made up the word Querplankanite. So what? It's a word. "Earth" is a word that was made up too. Big deal - does that mean that what we associate the word "Earth" to, does not exist? No.

However it does show how trivially easy it is to make up words that fail to refer to something that exists.

I don't think you missed my point, so I won't explain too much. I was only humoring your new word and definition. If the question is, "what is 1+1?" the answer is "Querplankanite", according to your definition. In that case, Querplankanite is synonymous with the number 2. Actually... if Querplankanite is the correct answer to every question... it's synonymous with every word in an appropriate context.

Except for the fact that, in and of itself, it gives no real answer to anything. It is a NullPointerException that is only a poor placeholder for the actual answers to questions of which we do not know the answers, particlarly when we attempt to apply such an answer to our understanding of the world. God is just another Querplankanite, with the exception that people think it means something.

Querplankanite is nothing. You made it up. Nobody made up God.

But I must warn you... in the context of the origin of life, the universe, and everything... God is synonymous to Querplankanite.

Then I would advise you to choose your words more carefully.