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Gavin Durden
Mrs. DeBock
English 4
March 23 2015
Evolution
Separation of church and state has always been a controversial topic in the way of how
people think differently and believe in a wide variety of things. It is with this belief that many
wish to spread and teach the young the ways they were taught to believe in. Due to the many
beliefs throughout the world it is inevitable that many children will be exposed to some form of
creationism in their early years of life and grow to follow this belief into their daily lives as
religion. Many would not come to understand or believe in ways the educational system has been
teaching us for years, but this does not discredit teaching creationism nor the theory of evolution
in a classroom environment. Evolution should be taught in a classroom because it offers an
alternative teaching method alongside creationism and intelligent design which widens the minds
and allows students to study in what they believe.
Most educational system already follow the set standard of teaching evolution, but
Badertscher states that evolution should not be taught in schools unless it is presented as an
alternatative to the theory of creationism. Neither of which have inherent or self-evident truth.
Badertscher goes on to reiterate that Creationism offers a valid alternative
to evolution and should be included in school curricula. Evolutionary thought is in two key
respects a religion--it provides a view of the world that must be accepted on faith, and its basic
suppositions cannot be verified. Under constitutional protections for freedom of religion and

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speech, schools should be free to discuss creationism, so long as it is clear that the school is not
enforcing any single belief. Although public schools may not promote religion, there is no
restriction on their providing students with exposure to opposing views. It is here that most
would say that church and state would be crossed, however this is not the case because both are
being taught as seperate subjects, or alternatives, to each other and do not cross into the others
path. Aside from that evolution is more of a scientific study that has some variation of proof
behind it instead of relying on "pseudo-science" that has no proof, but only belief.
All in all evolution and creationism comes down to the one individual who believes in
one or the other. Commonly the belief and willingness to believe in the choices comes from the
region in which a person is born and the type of family they are exposed to. Through this it is
only fair that evolution gets a fair section of teaching alongside the theory of creationism in a
classroom environment due to it not only being a scientific theory, but also what people choose
to believe in instead of religion.

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Work Cited
Aliprandini, Michael, and Maureen McMahon. "Teaching Evolution: An Overview."
Points Of View: Teaching Evolution (2014): 1. Points of View Reference Center. Web.
11 Mar. 2015.
Badertscher, Eric, and Jill Ginsburg. "Point: Evolution Should Only Be Taught As An
Alternative Theory To Creationism." Points Of View: Teaching Evolution (2014): 2.
Points of View Reference Center. Web. 11 Mar. 2015.
Rich, Alex K., and Matt Donnelly. "Counterpoint: Evolution Should Be The Only
Theory Taught In Schools." Points Of View: Teaching Evolution (2014): 3. Points of
View Reference Center. Web. 11 Mar. 2015.