A Teacher on Evolution

Perhaps no topic intrigues me more than evolution: the theory and the controversy.  During my time in Grad School, I studied the impact of religion in schools and eventually the Christian teachers who teach evolution.  One major assumption shows through any discussion of evolution and creationism: there are no Christians who accept evolution as a scientific explanation.

I grew up in Winton-Salem.  This is where I went to school and I went to church.  My first encounters with evolution were a joke.  My "science" teacher did not believe in evolution and refused to discuss it.  At that time, I was okay with not learning anything new.  Now I am disgusted that I allowed that lack of education to occur.  It was my church that introduced me to Darwin and evolution.  Many of the arguments that I learned were based on a misunderstanding of evolutionary theory, misinformation, or poor logic.

As I graduated high school with my Southern Baptist Church as my only source of information about evolution, I took off for college.  I was effectively armed with a distrust of evolution and many arguments to defeat any evolutionist.  In high school, I did not think of myself as an eager anti-evolutionist, but my freshmen biology course proved me wrong.  However, the fascination with evolution was just beginning.  When my professor began the chapter on evolution, I went so far to write an angry email (my only correspondence with this teacher) using the arguments that had been engrained in my head.  I even made a speech in my English class against evolution.

I continued taking biology courses, in particular every evolution course that I could get into.  The more information that I uncovered, the more logical evolution came to be.  At first I realized that it was impossible to deny natural selection.  Sometimes, the individuals with the best adaptations will be more likely to survival.  The allele frequencies would change, thus the populations could change over time.  Even with my newfound acceptance “microevolution” I was still whole-heartedly against “macroevolution”.  It took more time and more evidence for me to change my mind and to finally accept that populations of the same species can be separated from each other long enough to be considered different species.  Either they will not mate with each other or they cannot, either way they are now two separate species.

How does evolution affect religion?  The truth is, I don’t know.  I know that as a teacher, I will not tell other people what to believe.  In the science classroom, I am going to teach the scientific theory of evolution.  If you want your child to learn creationism, go to Sunday school; but science should be reserved for science.  I will agree that a specific, literal interpretation of the Bible leaves no room for evolution.  But not all Christians believe that the Bible is literal.   But once again, that is a theological argument that should be made in either Church or a comparative religions class.  We should realize that there are Christian science teachers, who will continue to teach evolution.  Evolution does not have to destroy your faith, it may require you change your view of your faith.  Faith is what we believe in the absence of evidence, not in spite of evidence.  Once again, why would God give us the ability of reason, and expect us not to use it.