But all of this trust starts to fall apart for many people over one scientific theory: evolution.

I was expecting this sentence to end with “global warming”. The build-up, and the title, would fit that direction of argument just as well. And they are both stories which are true, at least according to most scientists, but which many people reject not because of the evidence but because they are terrible.

Larry, I am not a biologist either, but from what I remember reading Darwin was not aware of Mendel’s work on genetics. It was later generations of scientists who put it together with Darwin’s work on the Origin of Species to put together modern evolutionary theory.

Really taking science seriously means asking what the theological implications of evolution, etc. are for our conceptions of God and creation. That’s a big task which few theologians have taken up (John Haught being a notable exception), but that’s what needs to happen. Only after we have an understanding of where evolution fits into theology are we going to be able to have a real discussion about it in popular Christian circles.

Check out the posts, and possibly his book.

In conclusion, I think you have some good points. However, I think the educational establishment is too hostile to Christianity in general. And, Fundamentalist really get worked over in college.

I am in agreement with you here, though the solutions would be different at the college level than in High School, in my view. Personally, I think that educational institutions need to become much more responsive to their customers, the students. I know that I was a pain to many of my professors (I went entirely to Christian colleges), and I think I would be much worse now.

Some professors don’t like to be challenged in their classroom, and they consider “doing a good job in their class” to be the equivalent of coming to understand things their way.

In high school science, however, I believe consensus science should be taught. Now that does mean that the science teacher should not draw atheistic conclusions from the science any more than theistic ones. Just teach the science as far as it properly goes.

The place to carry it forward after that is in church. Religious education in churches is another area that really needs some improvement. With a better job done on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights, young people would be less shocked by what happens to them in college.

This is a rational point. However, the secular view in education worries me. I took a class titled Philosophy of Religion in public college. It was taught by an atheist. She did not believe in any faith experience and thought is was all just a myth. Anyone who suggested that religion was anything but a myth was over ruled.

I had two psychology professors state boldly that religion has no place in the study of psychology or counseling clients.

In one human resource class, the professor lead a class attack on me, because I disagreed with their view about Christians. Their view was that a Fundamental Christian should not be allowed to teach or hold any government job.

In conclusion, I think you have some good points. However, I think the educational establishment is too hostile to Christianity in general. And, Fundamentalist really get worked over in college.

I am not a Fundamentalist. I came from a Fundamentalist background, but I have moved to a more understanding and tolerant United Church of Christ / Congregationalist faith journey. Regardless, our educational establishment needs to be more tolerant of Christian view points.

I say that simply to note that people can pick up an understanding of how evolution works, and what its impact is on our current understanding–or so it seems to me. It’s harder to follow, and it doesn’t do things as identifiable as making aircraft fly, but it does impact research in medicine.

That said, I do agree that a lack of easy to grab handles on the theory does make it harder for the non-specialist to follow. To me, that makes it all the more important that it be explicitly taught in science programs.