I can assure you I do not believe all Christians are evil. The most objectionable of said Christians are the ones whom have a literal interpretation who wish to interpret the world and govern it through this ancient text. This is a political force in the United States which wishes to take over the education system. It has attacked science and rationality itself, and wonders now, why there is a movement to limit its power. It is as a political entity that it is now being attacked. Actually I do not give a dam about what another man's theology is, as long as it is not forced upon others. Keep Christianity in the church, not the science classroom, keep it a choice, for only through choice is virtue truely virtue.
keep it a choice, for only through choice is virtue truely virtue.
as long as it is not forced upon others.
Well, we agree %100 on this one.
Not trying to be annoying, but I want mention that since "religion" was in the American classroom first, and was subsequently pushed out by "secular" phillosophy, it is only natural for the "religious" to feel like they are the ones being forced upon... Not that they have responded in a very Christian way overall...
I'm also not saying that the Bible ought to be taught in school, I'm just saying it's not surprising that they are upset. Unfortunately what he have right now is both sides battling for power in a downward spiral of antagonism, rather than attempting to understand each other and find a happy medium.
And for what it's worth, I personally feel that modern science (ie evolutionism) is an attack on science and rationality, and I think that schools ought to teach a more open minded aproach to dealing with natural history; it seems like sticking my head in the sand to pretend like the laws of nature and lots of time could produce the present universe. On the other side though, my biggest frustration with the "intellegent design" folks is that they can't seem to (or don't want to) separate their science from their religion. I would be perfectly happy to discuss natural history in a science class from a scientific standpoint, and attempting to leave religion "in the church" as you say.
Christianites claim of territory in the public school system does not hold up, its business is faith not knowledge. To say this is our domain because we were here first still will not cut it. Evolutionary biology could say it has a right to teach evolution from the pulpit because it has never been given a chance. I agree however, that it is not surprizing that they are disappointed Please explain how science as evolutionary biology is an attack on science and rationality? Creationism and/or Intelligent design is not taught in the science classroom because it simply is not science. The creation of the universe is a mystery, creationism and/or intelligent design do not answer the question, indeed what they present is not rationally based on anything. Science is the best guess through the rational of what is known today. If religion had knowledge, faith would not be necessary.Neitherextreme,
What I was saying was not meant to say that religion has an inherent claim on the classroom, I was merely commenting on the loss of "territory", and the obvious result (people being upset). I think one of the biggest "Christian" mistakes of the last few hundred years was that they often opposed science directly when it was introduced, rather than try to understand it. I think that if they had tried to understand it, the two may have both learned from each other and travelled parrallel (though not directly overlapping) paths. Frankly I don't think that Chrisitanity and Science need to be at odds, though unfortunately I don't have a whole lot of hope for reconciliation any time real soon. 
Neitherextreme,
You perhaps have something there about science and religion getting off on the wrong foot. It has been stated that the friction between the two is really a conflict between the science of two thousand years ago with the science of the day. I would be most interested in your thread outlineing this supposed affront to science and rationalism by evolutionary biology.
