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This is debate focusses on three issues really; first, weither Creationism is soemthing that should be taught in schools; second, should Evolution Theory be taught with or without any counter balance and should schools who teach it go out of their way to explain that it is indeed a theory; and third what is or should be allowed by law.

In addition to those three topics there is also the additional issue of if weither Creationism should can be justified scientificly or can Evolution Theory be justified using the bible. My personal religious beliefs demand that science and religion must be in harmony; without science to back up parts of religion it becomes dogmatic and stale, and without religion for science we lose our moral bindings.

First lets handle the issue should a religious belief be taught in schools.

We live in a Secular nation, but one who like many other secular countries our laws and beliefs are based on a religion and that religion is Christianity.

(from dictionary.com)
sec·u·lar Pronunciation Key (sky-lr)
adj.

1. Worldly rather than spiritual.
2. Not specifically relating to religion or to a religious body: secular music.
3. Relating to or advocating secularism.
4. Not bound by monastic restrictions, especially not belonging to a religious order. Used of the clergy.
5. Occurring or observed once in an age or century.
6. Lasting from century to century.

n.

1. A member of the secular clergy.
2. A layperson.

But in this country many of the people who founded it are were from religious sects that were not widely supported or even harrased by their local government(s). For instance the "pilgrims" were of a religious sect, puritians, that was widely persecuted in England and sought a place where they could practice their brand of Christianity without such persecution. The puritian movement had such an effect that when our constitution was drafted special protections were granted to those who wished to practice their own religion whatever it maybe.

The original intent of that clause was to allow anyone to practice their version of Christianity without persection from the state and to prevent the state from choosing or making a version of Christianity it's own. In the centuries following that we have taken that meaning to implay any religion or any sect of any religion. So it has become the duty of our nation and any of our local governments not to promote one religion in particular, even if a majority of it's people practice it. This does not prevent anyone associated with the state in any way from practicing their religion it merely protects us from the undue influence from the state. On that grounds since our public schools are an embodyment of the state it is only logical, and prudent to keep the schools as secular as possible and leave the schools only to teaching that which is of a secular nature, thus Creationism does not fit that profile.

On the issue of Evolution Theory, is there not a saying that God works in mysterious ways? I would consider Evolution if it is true to be that. Were Evolution proved true what would it change? Perhaps God in some mysterious way lobbed a lightening bolt down into a pool of water and that spark created some simple celled orginism that eventually became man. Could he not in the billion years it took for those orginisms to form into creatures guide their creation in such a way that he infact did give life, souls and intellect to us all? (well most of us, that is) Was belief in God broken when Capernicus turned his glasses to the sky and found that the sun did not revolve around the earth and that instead the earth revolved around the sun? No, it mearly broke the principles of Aristotle that the Cathlic church was built on. To claim that a Theory at best is defunct because it contridicts the bible could very well be considered a sin to God since it would forbit is from looking at a theory that could allow us to look at God and appreciate his mysteries that much more. If an interpetation of the bible goes up against science and one or the other is wrong I am willing to bet that it is the interpetation of the bible rather than science, since from what is written in the bible more than one gleaning can be made.

Lastly, can science be used to back up Creationism? No, creationism in it's current from does not conform with what we know, we know how the earth was formed we know when it was formed, and we know how old the entire universe is. The belief that God created everything day by day in our senses is quite a streach since we know the earth was not formed in one day the sun did not light up in just one day, the oceans were not formed in just one day and so forth and so on. It is only logical that man was not formed in one day nor was the rest of creation, atleast not in our sense of days, as it is written a day is but a thousand years.

The teaching of religious beliefs is not something for our government, I would rather them not instruct on the matter than risk the chance they instruct incorrectly. Religion is something to be taught by parents not the government and not through the government. The problem is that too few parents actually want to bother with their child's education and consider school for their children nothing more than tax supported day care. These parents become obssively upset when they find that the day care actually exists to try to instruct their children.