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Why must we have intelligent design and/or creationism taught in school biology classes?

Is "science" not generally stuff that can be observed tangibly and measured?

Is creationism and intelligent design not a myth- or at most a hypothesis?

How much does it really matter to the general public how the world originated?

Discuss.

Comments

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Why must we have intelligent design and/or creationism taught in school biology classes?

Intelligent design is a concept that most rational, intelligent people will understand anyway, so it should not have to be taught. Most 6 year olds will ask "Why?" Eventually you get to a point where you can't answer why anymore. Two big questions in the realm of metaphysics are what was happening before the "Big Bang" and what is the smallest particle possible. The critical thinking necessary for "intelligent design" should be part of an underlying science curriculum, but is not useful just from a biology standpoint.

Creationism is certainly nice for a psycho-social standpoint, since it provides a nice easy answer to the classic question, "why are we here?" Its use has typically been as a literary device. And if you examine the "creation" stories of most cultures, they have very common themes. As such, creationism should be taugh in Literature class, not biology.

Is "science" not generally stuff that can be observed tangibly and measured?

Not entirely. Science is a process for making a guess and proving it. It's not just the tangible observations and measurements. Just ask Christopher Columbus. Consider - Antarctica was considered a continent long before anybody actually landed there...

Is creationism and intelligent design not a myth- or at most a hypothesis?

Creationism is a social construct used to placate the uniquely human mind. Most creation stories are myths, used to explain where a people came from. Granted, most cats and dogs don't really care where they came from -- they have their mommy and daddy and a survival instinct.

Intelligent design is the logical conclusion of the modern scientific process. Our experiments have given us all sorts of facts to get to a certain point of understanding... after that, we still ask "why?" Again, ID is just another easy way out to placate the human mind. As intelligent as we are, there must be something far more intelligent out there that created this; rather, if we were this intelligent, then we would understand it already.

How much does it really matter to the general public how the world originated?

In most cultures, it used to matter; to some degree, it still does. Cultural identity is predicated on the stories of the origination of the world. Christianity, itself, is predicated on the Genesis story. Certain Native American cultures (for that follow the old ways) are still is based on the stories of how the Black Hills formed, or how certain spirits came together to form the Universe.

"Origination" is far more of an undercurrent today than it ever was since few people actively wonder "where did we come from" too often. But it's still there. And it's part of what separates us from the kitties and puppies of the world...