Public schools are not places of state mandated spiritual learning, but most Americans believe faith-based truths should be taught alongside scientific theory in public schools.
According to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, “Most Americans (64 percent) say they are open to the idea of teaching creationism along with evolution in the public schools.”
Yet the United States Constitution mandates a separation of church and state.
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
Other results of the survey state that 78 percent of Americans believe that God created the earth and five percent say a universal spirit or higher power created the earth. Forty-eight percent of Americans think life has evolved over time and 42 percent believe “life has existed in its present state since the beginning of time.”
“[Evolution] is a process by which animals or plants adapt to their environment, so if the environment changes … plants and animals show an ability to adapt to those changes,” said Jason Hunt, a BYU-Idaho biology professor. “If you are a true creationist … the earth was created six thousand years ago in six days. Everything was created as it stands now.”
The study also shows that “there are considerable inconsistencies between people’s beliefs and what they want taught in the schools, suggesting some confusion about the meaning of terms such as creationism and evolution.”
Hunt agrees that the definitions of creationism and evolution can be confusing because “there are a lot of grey areas.”
BYU-I students have their own theories about what should be taught in public schools.
“It’s easier to teach evolution because you have facts. Creationism you have to rely on faith and you can’t teach faith in school, ” said April Harris, a senior from Natchitoches, La., who is majoring in biology edu-cation.
Jordan Duncan, a freshman from Bakersfield, Calif., believes that both theories should be taught.
“They make sense. God …may have used evolution, but it was in intelligent design that he did it. It just makes sense to teach both,” Duncan said.
Hunt calls the debate over evolution interesting, but not that important.
“The debate is kind of silly,” Hunt said.
He points out that the principles of evolution and creationism aren’t completely opposite principles, and that they shouldn’t be taught that way.
The poll was conducted in July of 2005, surveyed 2,000 people over the age of 18 and has a 2.5 percent margin of error.
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