Don't Teach Anything With Implications For Religion?

If something has implications for religion, should it be off-limits in public schools? Some people seem to think so, but that's such an absurd and ridiculous position that it simply isn't possible to mount a coherent defense of it. No, that doesn't stop some from trying...

Michael Ruse says in an interview (via Pharyngula):

You're not allowed to teach religion in biology class.

I can't understand why I can't get through people's thick skulls on this one. If in fact Darwinian evolutionary theory implies atheism, then you ought not to be teaching it in schools! It's not good enough to say, "Well, I'm a National Socialist. But the fact that that meant a lot of Jews were hauled off to Auschwitz, that's not my worry!" It bloody is! If your theory leads to 6 million Jews being made into soap, not only is there something deeply troubling about your theory, but you've got a moral obligation to face up to its implications. If this theory leads to atheism, then it's got religious implications.

First, it would be more accurate to say that if evolution leads to atheism, then it has implications for some religions. This is an important distinction because saying “it has religious implications” means that the implications are necessarily religious — but for some people, the implication of atheism won’t affect their religion. Some religious theists simply won’t care what evolution seems to “imply.” So, should we really avoid teaching anything that might have implications for some religious and some people’s religious beliefs?

That would affect a significant amount of what is taught in schools Most of history has religious implications of one sort or another — the Holocaust, for example, has significant religious implications. I guess Ruse doesn’t think that we should teach it. What, does that sound ridiculous? Of course it does! It’s implausible that Ruse actually thinks the Holocaust should be avoided in public schools — but, to use his own words, if his “theory” leads to ignoring the Holocaust, then there is something deeply troubling about his “theory” and he has a moral obligation to face up to its implications.

The Holocaust is a fact. Evolution is a fact. These facts may or may not have implications for the religious beliefs for some students, but that possibility is not a good enough reason to avoid teaching them. The fact that you aren’t allowed to teach religion in biology class isn’t a reason to avoid anything and everything that might have implications for some religious beliefs. To suggest that public schools ignore or cover up facts in order to avoid raising implications for some religious beliefs is to advance an agenda that is ethically, academically, and scientifically irresponsible.

Michael Ruse should know better.

Read More:

• Evolution vs. Creationism
• Science vs. Religion
• What is Science?