The Dangers of Creationism in Education

 
The Committee on Culture, Science and Education of the Parliamentary Assembly, Council of Europe has issued a report on The dangers of creationism in education. One of the most interesting parts of this report is that the committee does not back away from labeling Intelligent Design as a form of creationism. For example, in the opening paragraphs the report says,

Creationism in any of its forms, such as “intelligent design”, is not based on facts, does not use any scientific reasoning and its contents are definitely inappropriate for science classes.

However, some people call for creationist theories to be taught in European schools alongside or even in place of the theory of evolution. From a scientific view point, there is absolutely no doubt that evolution is a central theory for our understanding of life on Earth.

The Assembly calls on education authorities in member states to promote scientific knowledge and the teaching of evolution and to oppose firmly any attempts at teaching creationism as a scientific discipline.

Later on they define creationism using a great deal of common sense.

Creationists question the scientific character of certain items of knowledge and argue that the theory of evolution is only one interpretation among others. They accuse scientists of not providing enough evidence to establish the theory of evolution as scientifically valid. On the contrary, they defend their own statements as scientific. None of this stands up to objective analysis. ...

Creationism has many contradictory aspects. The “intelligent design” idea, which is the latest, more refined version of creationism, does not deny a certain degree of evolution but claims that this is the work of a superior intelligence. Though more subtle in its presentation, the doctrine of intelligent design is no less dangerous.

I will continue to refer to Intelligent Design Creationism as an accurate representation of the views of people like Dembski, Behe, Phillips etc. Their allies, like Denyse O'Leary, are also creationists by my definition. They aren't Young Earth Creationists, they are Intelligent Design Creationists.

Readers might recall that I have been accused of inventing a new definition of "creationism" [Creationism Continuum]. Some people, even evolutionists, think that the only creationists are those who believe in the literal truth of Genesis. They maintain that it is wrong to refer to intelligent design proponents as creationists. Obviously, I disagree and I'm not alone. In fact, I'd go one step farther than the Committee on Culture, Science and Education, I'd say that Theistic Evolutionists are also creationists because they believe in a creator.

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