Kendall Parrish

Period 7

Article Assignment
In this article The Evolution Of Creationism by Simon Brown, he presents ideas about
separation of church and state. They show how in earlier years the people who supported the
teaching of creationism wanted schools to only teach about how God created the world. But, the
ideas eventually evolve in order to get some kind of creationism in the public school teachings.
The author explains that the creationists claim, "Proponents of intelligent design claim that as
long as they do not identify the designer as God, the idea is acceptable for public schools". The
creationists tried to increase their support by changing it no specific religion, rather than just the
creationist's idea that God created the world. Also, they are trying to disprove evolution, instead
of teaching creationist ideas. Running low on ideas to get a foundation, the author describes their
progressing actions, "So their latest strategy calls for evolution to be treated as an unproven
theory, with the implication that it's on the same plane as creationism". The idea of creationism is
now supported more than it was in the past because they have many different names used to trick
people and creationist schools in the south getting funds from religious groups. Creationists have
continued to come up with new ways of squeezing into the public school system. The author
expresses the irony in how the creationist ideas and justification for being in the school system
has evolved over time in order to get more support. Back during the Scopes Trial, the idea of
evolution was crazy and uncommon; it is interesting how the author tells the reader about how the
opposite is now occurring.
Through using destiny library I can tell this is a liable source. Since the author leans
toward the evolution side in this article, they seem to use enough evidence to show why the
creationists aren't succeeding in spreading their ideas into public schools. This is a recent article
and the citations show the information used is recent too. Throughout the article, the author
presents to the reader the evolution of how creationists try to get their thoughts into the school
system, "Ironically, creationists have been forced to evolve thanks to the federal courts". He
brings up many points proving the creationists aren't getting their way. The author also concludes
that any impact they have had on school education is slim, "Many of these schools are sponsored
by religious groups...". The money for creationism teaching in some public schools comes from
few religious groups and from tricks such as changing the name or definition. He brings up many
points proving the creationists aren't getting their way because of their low support even after
doing everything previously mentioned.
Personally, I believe evolution has much evidence behind it, to the point where the
creationists can't disprove the theory. During the scopes trial portrayed in the play Inherit The
Wind, evolution was an unusual idea when Cates tried to teach it to his class, now it is interesting
how the same problem is occurring but opposite than the scopes trial. From my experience,
evolution happens all around us and I have no doubt that humans too are evolving. In the article,
the author seems to lean more toward the evolution side and while talking about creationism
throughout time shows that the reason it isn't successful has to do with their lack of evidence.
Even though I believe in the theory of evolution and Charles Darwin's thoughts, I do believe that
there is room for a balance between the thoughts. Teaching both evolution and the ideas of the
Bible leaves students open to their own thoughts, which I believe, is important. Everyone has
their own ideas, people should have a right to think and have different views. I believe it's all
about perspective and people should each have a different perspective in order to have their own
thoughts and ideas.