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Should Evolution Be Taught In Schools Essay

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Citizens have various religious beliefs (creationism, Hinduism, Islam, and many more), in fact there are more than 4000 religions (World Religions Religion Statistics Geography Church Statistics, n.d.), some believe in evolution while others are undecided. The ongoing debate whether creationism and evolution should be taught at schools, is a rather controversial sensitive topic. Some believe that creation lacks evidence and is not a valid enough idea to be taught to the youth of our generation. Articles, surveys, case studies, and so forth are investigated regularly, citizens want both evolution and creationism to be available for the youth of today, as both theories try to unravel the latter of the universe and our existence (Morris, 1973). …show more content…

To answer this question, we turn to government. Murray, Jensen, and Hatch (2003), identified twenty questions, what the courts have said about the teaching of evolution and creationism in public schools. Below is a breakdown of the findings from the article. Can the teaching of evolution not discourage learners from accepting the theological form of creation? In 1999, Freiler vs Tangipahoa Parish Board of Education. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reigned that the teaching of evolution is not projected to influence or discourage the theological form of creation.
The famous Scopes trial in the United States marked an important event on the controversy between evolution and creationism. From a lawful standpoint, what did it achieve? Nothing, the trial was overturned, and remained in effect till 1967 (John Thomas Scopes vs. The State of Tennessee) (Kalven, 1960).
If learners claim that the teaching of evolution is contradicting their beliefs, should educators adapt their teaching to accommodate the learners rights? In (1978), Wright vs. Houston Independent School District, the law suit was dismissed even though it is the learner’s constitutional right. Wright proposed a compromise of equal teaching. However, the First Amendment does not document exclusions of any religions from scientific

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In a court case, a judge is supposed to be impartial, but during the Scopes trial, Judge Raulston wouldn’t allow any scientific experts to testify due to his religious beliefs. This was a big blow to the defense’s case, and they had to completely change their strategy. Another thing that showed the bias of the courtroom was the speed at which the jury reached their verdict. The jury only took nine minutes to reach a unanimous verdict. The trial took over a week, and there were countless witnesses and pieces of evidence.

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The Scopes “Monkey Trial” changed the way science and evolution are taught in America’s school systems today. The trial came about when John Scopes, an algebra and science teacher, taught evolution as a plausible theory while filling in for a biology teacher at Rhea County Central High School in Dayton, Tennessee. The action went against Tennessee’s “Butler Act,” which prohibited teachers in public schools to “teach any theory that denies the story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man descended from a lower order of animals.” Scopes, along with others in the community, wanted to change the law so that students could be taught Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, and the matter was taken to court. The

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Edwards v. Aguillard Edwards v. Aguillard is a supreme court case that challenges the legality of the Creationism Law. The creationism law said that you didn’t have to teach evolution,but if you did you also had to teach creationism. The law was ruled unconstitutional in a federal court and then an appeals court. It was then moved to the supreme court, the supreme court ruled in a 7-2 decision that the law broke the establishment clause and therefore was unconstitutional.(Gordon) The law was first challenged by a parent of student who objected the legality of the Creation Law.

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The last argument that made me not want to vote to convict John Scopes is the argument he made that religion has caused people to have different opinions. But some things should be between an individual , his maker or his God. Darrow says that the constitutional convention should leave the questions of religion between man and what he worships. Questions of religion shouldn’t be brought into the classrooms of

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Scopes Trial What was the Scopes Trial? In the summer of 1925, John Scopes went to trial on grounds of teaching evolution, which was against the law in Dayton, TN. There were many factors involved to make this event so very publicly known.

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Today it is “recognized as a leading work in natural philosophy and in the history of mankind” (Landry). Today it seems as if there is a price to pay when talking about this topic in public, especially in school classrooms, as many teachers and parents argue that the Bible’s literal interpretation of human development is supreme. Challenges facing the theory were found relevant in 23 states as well as seven foreign countries. In 2004 a challenge was brought up by the Kansas State Board of Education. Is evolution a matter of a theory or is it the subject of “true scientific controversy” (Tamblyn)?

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While they believed they were doing what was best, they were infringing upon the rights of everyone who did not hold the same beliefs as them. Another religious repercussion the Scopes Trial had was the fact that, even to this very day, those who hold the fundamental belief system of their religions especially Christianity protest and heatedly debate over evolution being taught in schools, when creationism is not allowed to be taught in the sciences. The fact that the way students should be taught in science, and what should be taught in school is still a controversial topic in today. It shows how large and important the Scopes case was in the minds of the American

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In this court case, the state of Louisiana made a law that forbade the teaching of the theory of evolution in public schools unless the school were to teach the theory of creationism as well (“Edwards”). Though the law did not require the teaching of either of the theories, it did require one of the other if schools did decide to teach it (“Edwards”). Parents, teachers, and religious leaders seeked to prevent the forcing of this law (“Edwards”). Andrew Koppelman, the author of “Phony Originalism and the Establishment Clause,” says, “States are prohibited from

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Even years after Scopes's death, his name commands great attention as a teacher that was willing to challenge the Tennessee law, and for standing up what he thought was right (Hanson 40). "The publicity of the Scopes Trial was seen as one of the most important American historical trials. The outcome of the trial is still held ideal to American education today" (Media 1). Teaching of evolution eventually expanded, and fundamentalists used state laws to

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The Scopes Monkey trial was one the biggest and most influential court cases of all time. John Scopes was a public high school teacher in dayton tennessee who was arrested and tried for breaking the butlers law. Passed in 1925 it made teaching evolution in any schools and colleges in the state of Tennessee illegal. This was because evolution challenges the idea of creationism which was the popular religion in the tennessee. this was a huge problem because it was written in the constitution that you must separate church and state.

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Eventually, the conspirators summoned John Scopes, a science teacher who taught evolution to his students, to start their plan. Scopes agreed, and the trial began on July 10th, 1925. Throughout the entire trial, however, the attention was not on Scopes’ prosecution. The main focus was on Darrow versus Bryan, evolutionism versus creationism. Unfortunately, despite Bryan’s reputation as a fundamentalist, he did not represent Christianity in a favorable image.

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Because of the false accusations from Darwin’s theory in some aspects, Bryan was discouraged of the lack of scientific evidence to prove evolution and Scopes was later on, proven guilty (Mintz and McNeil par 8). However, the judge determined and finalized Scope’s fine to be only $100 ("Scopes Monkey Trial." par 8). Later in 1967, the Supreme Court disapproved Tennessee 's law of not teaching evolution for the violation of the Constitution’s prohibition against the establishment of religion (Mintz and McNeil par

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For instance, evolution, at times, is not accepted by the absolutist and lead to intolerance. In this case, a new argument called “creation science” asserted that creation of the world can be supported using scientific evidence and therefore it “must be given equal time with evolutionary theory in high school biology texts and classes” (Barbour 83). The concept of creation science was later ruled as not legitimate science by Arkansas court (Parker, Schmidt 47). As seen through these two opposite realms of seeking truth, due to their reluctance to

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Concerned Parents: It has been brought to our attention, Board of Education, that there is a dispute within the school on if the topic of evolution should remain in the school’s curriculum. Your organization, “Concerned Parents”, distinctively establishes your concern about evolution being taught within the school in fear it undermines the students’ religious beliefs. However, included in the school’s curriculum are science classes. Science “encompasses the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment” (Press, 2016).

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After understanding the concepts of evolution and creationism my vote goes to supporting Evolution. I would support evolution because students will be given accurate information of how different and similarities forms of life, the change in population, and the process of new forms of life came to be. This will bring out the best for our upcoming future because students will use the proper evidence in making more rightful decision that will actually help our society better than before. They would not make any decision that will be based off of religious belief and that is where creationism fall in. Creationism is more towards the religious belief that God has created the world and developed divine creation.

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