Implications of an Unresolved Debate

The two sides of this debate are heavily polarized. I’ve already theorized possible ways to end the debate, with a focus on educating the general public on evolution and of the debate itself. But what lies in store if the debate remains unsolved? I am of the opinion that general science education in America will suffer if steps aren’t taken to “close” the debate on a sufficient enough level, and that on a larger scale the civil rights of students could be threatened.

I’m relatively certain that over the course of this blog I’ve sufficiently stressed the fact that creationism is non-scientific. Creationism is the antithesis of actual science—it first asserts a conclusion and tries to find evidence afterward, never deviating from the conclusion. Though it is not being taught in the majority of the states, its lingering presence in the public consciousness is potentially problematic; every young student who evolutionary theory has devalued in their eyes and creationism championed stands to lose much of the critical thinking ability required in today’s job and research market; we'd essentially be dumbing down these students by teaching creationism as science. Additionally, science education itself will inevitably suffer if solid concepts such as evolutionary theory are continually blasted by misguided attacks. If steps aren’t taken to further reduce its role in schools, the problem could potentially get worse, with creationist proponents adding more to their ranks. Though I do not envision any sort of creationist uprising anytime soon, leaving this controversy unresolved will definitely have an adverse affect on science education.

Another implication, even more unsettling than the first, is the issue of civil rights. If this matter isn’t settled in a decisive manner, there will always be creationist proponents pushing their origin story into the public school setting; the matter here is that there will be continual attacks on the civil rights of public school students; I say this because being fundamentally religious at its core, creationism would be imposing a belief system on students it has no right proselytizing toward.

Keeping in mind my post about ending the debate, I argue that leaving this controversy up for grabs, so to speak, will not only harm the level of science education in our country, but also allow for continued attacks on civil rights to be unaccounted for; and this is not considering the consequences if creationism actually gained more favor among the public, merely what would happen if the debate in its current state is left unresolved. A stronger creationist movement would carry much more dire consequences, indeed.

UPDATE: Edited for formatting errors.