Philosophers, scientists and religious leaders have puzzled over the question: How did it all begin? Did the hand of God mould the earth and its inhabitants in seven days as the book of Genesis claims? Or did we evolve from a single cell, into complex beings that can walk, talk and think?
This fundamental question shapes how we see ourselves and the world around us.
Unfortunately, Mike Harris’s Conservative provincial government hasn’t come out of its cave long enough to realize the dark age of attributing the diversity of life on earth to an omnipotent being is over.
Instead, Harris has created a new provincial curriculum that allows the majority of students to pass through both elementary and secondary school learning nothing about evolution. The theory is taught in a single course — advanced Grade 12 biology.
The Harris government seems to be taking its lead from our fundamentalist neighbours to the south. American creationists have pressured governments of 19 states to stop using textbooks that mention Darwin’s theory of evolution because it’s too controversial.
In the U.S. Bible Belt, this is a contentious issue. But Canada doesn’t have a significant fundamentalist demographic. In fact, only a quarter of Canadians even belong to an organized religion. An even smaller percentage consider themselves part of the religious right.
So why are we neglecting to teach our students such an important theory?
The theory of evolution is hardly considered controversial among scientists. It’s the best explanation we have for our evolution up to this point. And it doesn’t preclude the possibility of God as part of the bigger picture. Darwin’s theory actually puts forth the idea that a divine spark infused the first cell with life.
The theory of evolution should be taught as just that: a theory. Not a guess, or a stab in the dark, but as the closest thing we have to understanding how the species existing today, including humans, came to be.
Part of the learning process should involve teaching students that knowledge is incremental. It gradually shifts over time, which is why the earth is presently revolving around the sun and the moon isn’t made of blue cheese.
It comes down to the fact that exploring ideas about biological diversity is important. Not only to science and biology students, but also to the humanities: philosophy, sociology, linguistics — the list goes on.
Perhaps Mike Harris will do us all a favour and fall off the edge of the earth.
The ghost of Darwin will no doubt be waiting for him.
— Melissa Hughes