Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Academic Freedom?

Lots of Christians are saying that public schools need to allow for "academic freedom" and have criticism of evolution. Some states are attempting to pass laws to this effect. I'm not quite sure how a legislature can enforce "academic freedom," and I find it funny that a whole bunch of Republicans have suddenly decided that government intervening in the school system is a good thing. But that's another topic.

I agree that we should be allowed to question Darwinism, but these laws that are being passed are too sloppy and allow all sorts of ideas that are not science a potential foot in the door of the science classroom.

Here's a question: I'm a Christian who doesn't believe in Darwinism but does believe that the earth and universe are billions of years old. What about those Christian institutions that only allow people who believe in a young earth to teach? Shouldn't I have the academic freedom to question the young-earth paradigm? (Pointing out the fact that these are private insitutions misses the point.)

No comments: