Creation Science and Teaching the Bible

In a letter to the editor of the local newspaper, The Rev. Dr. William Curtis writes, “… the entire Creation Science movement is committed to the premise that true science does indeed hold up the creation and young earth position of the Bible.” In this statement, Rev. Curtis unwittingly points out the difference between creation science and “true” science: Creation Science is committed to proving its conclusions are true, whereas “true” science is committed to attempting to disprove its own conclusions.

At the present time the Center for Creation Science is advertising the book “In the Beginning: Compelling Evidence for Creation and the Flood”  by Dr. Walt Brown. Dr. Brown begins by assuming that the great flood actually happened. Where did all the water come from? According to Dr. Brown, the continents were one land mass floating on a layer of water. The land mass cracked open one day, and the underlying waters gushed up as high as 20 miles! The great flood was born.

Needless to say, the laws of physics, presumably laid down by God, indicate that the land mass floating on water is impossible. And assuming that the flood actually resulted from 40 days and nights of rain, and the ark came to rest on a mountain 10,000 feet high, that would mean that the rain fell at a rate of over ten feet per hour. That would quickly swamp the largest aircraft carrier!

In fact, stories of a great flood abound in religions preceding the writing of the Bible. Asia, the Far East, Oceana and both North South America; all have spawned religions which include flood legends. But doesn’t that prove that the great flood happened all over the world? Not necessarily – just as they do in the present day, local catastrophic floods happened at different times in widely separated areas, and the more often the stories were retold, the larger the catastrophes grew.

Don’t get me wrong; I believe the Bible should be taught in school – just not in science class. As a major source book for understanding our culture, the Bible is filled with common phrases and sentences: Leviathan*See eye to eye*A voice crying in the wilderness*New wine in old bottles*Good Samaritan, and hundreds, perhaps thousands more. To understand the origin of these phrases is to add to the acceptance and enjoyment of some of our greatest literature.

As a religious text, the Bible should be taught in church, Sunday School and at mother’s knee. But finding teachers without a religious agenda to teach it as literature in public schools is almost impossible. And that’s a shame.