Creationism on the Rise
The Institute for Creation Research is trying to get accreditation for “an online degree in science education to prepare teachers to ‘understand the universe within the integrating framework of Biblical creationism.‘” Last week an Texas advisory council recommended the program for approval by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.
“The Institute for Creation Research, which recently moved to Dallas
from Santee, Calif., says it teaches its graduate students “more
typical secular perspectives” alongside creationism.
But students and faculty must profess faith in a literal translation
of Biblical creation — that God created the world in six days and made
humans and animals in their current life forms; that the Earth is only
thousands of years old; and the fossil record is the result of a global
flood described in the Bible, according to the Web site.”
That certainly represents a different type of science education to me, more reminiscent of the flat earth theory, the humor theory of medicine, and alchemy. Perhaps the degree should be more properly designated as pre-renaissance philosophy, pseudo-education or political debate rather than science education.
To be fair, though, I think it will be important for Texas to also offer degrees in the scientific philosophy of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, including its insightful work on the correlation of global temperature with the number of pirates. I believe that challenging students with a little ironic humor would be far better than purposefully and artificially muddying the waters between religion and science.