Evolution and Religious Beliefs
The controversy surrounding the Theory of Evolution is well known,
after all it’s taught in virtually every public school
in the country. Although the members of A New Guard have a united
stance on their perception of the theory, it is not the focus
of the web site to endorse or discredit its factuality. However,
we feel that the following information on how the subject is
taught and tested is pertinent in the area of student rights.
According to the law, there is nothing wrong with educators teaching
evolution as a theory. Although untested in court, it could possibly
be proven that those teachers, who decide to teach evolution
as a fact, would be “indoctrinating” their students,
a practice that we believe would be prohibited according to previous
Supreme Court decisions.
However, despite how the Theory of Evolution is taught, some
students and parents take issue with the way tests and assignments
are formed on the subject. Some questions proposed during testing
may seem to assume that evolution is fact, rather than a theory.
Because of this, students feel pressured to give the answer that
they believe the teacher is looking for, rather than the answer
that they believe is true. For instance, in a multiple-choice
test a question could ask, “The Big Bang is…” and
the student would feel compelled to answer honestly, “A
farce.” However, the answer the teacher accepts as correct
would be, “The origin of matter in our universe.”
Therefore, with the understanding that
Evolution is a Theory, students have the right to answer the
question to the best of
their ability in a way that the teacher would recognize as correct,
but then include a disclaimer as to their actual beliefs on the
subject. This would alleviate any pressure the student would
have on endorsing a belief (through an answer on a test or assignment)
that he or she truly doesn’t endorse. The same principle
applies to speeches, reports and other assignments. This way
a student is able to make known to the teacher that he or she
understands the information as it was taught, but desires not
to endorse that understanding.
Students may have the right to be excused from the work based
on religious grounds (depending on specific State laws.) However,
students do not have the right to answer questions on a test
based on their personal religious beliefs and then expect to
be exempt from having them count against his or her score.
The content on this page has been reviewed by The Rutherford Institute.
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