I actually don't think discussing the origin of life at all has any place in public schools. It's more of a college-level topic due to the complexity and speculative nature of it.
Because so many people attack evolution thinking it's abiogenesis, it's awfully hard to tell how many of those people really ARE genuinely opposed to evolution and are actual creationists (things like whales evolved from land mammals, etc. etc.)
"Because so many people attack evolution thinking it's abiogenesis, it's awfully hard to tell how many of those people really ARE genuinely opposed to evolution and are actual creationists (things like whales evolved from land mammals, etc. etc.)
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Well, there is that, of course. The problem is that so many do not have any idea what the TOE is really about, so every thread has to include an explanation (or endless explanations) of the difference between biogenesis and evolution.
Apparently all those explanations are doing no good, since the same people come into such threads saying the same incorrect things.
Meanwhile, the Roman Catholic church supports the Theory of Evolution, as do most mainstream churches. They're believers in both a deity-originated creation, followed by speciation through the process of Evolution. The two are not incompatible in any way.
So he did discuss the origin of HUMAN life, and the origin of all variations of life but the first. Evolutionists certainly include the origin of life from non-life in their theories, and it has long been talked about in kids' textbooks. So, where's your beef? It is part of the theory as I learned it in high school. You can't have it both ways. Kids are not studying Darwin's book, so whether he attempted to explain the origin of the very first life is irrelevant to this discussion. WHAT IS IN THEIR CURRICULUM is what is relevant to this thread.