Will Creation Be Taught in Indiana Schools?

Although I work at Answers in Genesis and the Creation Museum located in Kentucky, I live in Indiana. In addition, I have a school age daughter. So for good reason I have been watching the bill to allow the teaching of creation in public schools with much interest.

The Indiana Senate Education Committee voted 8-2 in favor of a bill stating the following:

The governing body of a school corporation may require the teaching of various theories concerning the origin of life, including creation science, within the school corporation.

The Indiana Senate voted 28-22 in favor of an amended bill stating the following:

The governing body of a school corporation may offer instruction on various theories of the origin of life. The curriculum for the course must include theories from multiple religions, which may include, but is not limited to, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Scientology.

The question many have been asking me is what do I think about this bill since I’m a creation scientist? Honestly, I have mixed feelings. While I am in favor of teachers being allowed to teach creation, the wording of the original bill made it sound as if teachers would be required to teach creation if the school district adopted the bill. I am definitely not in favor of mandating teachers who do not believe in creation to teach it. This would likely result in more harm than good, since it might be taught incorrectly and in a derisive manner.

The amended bill does not contain the word “require” but rather states “may offer,” which in my opinion is more appropriate. However, to be more “religion friendly” it states that if a school district decides to teach “various theories of the origin of life” then it “must include” those of many world religions. What do the religions mentioned in the bill as examples teach about the origin of life?

• Christianity, Judaism, and Islam teach a wide range of ideas concerning origins from the liberal view of theistic evolution to the conservative view of a literal creation as recorded in Genesis.
• Hinduism has multiple stories concerning origins. One story says that a primal man named Purusa was sacrificed and different parts of his body became different parts of the universe including humans.
• Buddhism teaches that creation occurs repeatedly throughout time in cycles (it does not disallow evolution) and that the material world is an illusion.
• Scientology teaches Thetans (aliens) created the universe trillions of years ago. Xenu, ruler of the Galactic Confederacy (also an alien), brought billions of frozen people to earth 75 million years ago.

Can you imagine the confusion that would ensue and the time it would take to teach all of these “theories” of origins? In addition, the truth of creation from God’s Word would be obscured and possibly viewed as just another creation “story” like the others. While I applaud the efforts of well-meaning Indiana legislators, I am concerned that the bill as it is currently worded will not accomplish the goal of allowing the teaching of creation in schools as a viable alternative to evolution as seemed to be the bill’s original intent.

As the parent of a school age child, I have no expectation that the public schools will teach anything but evolution. They are part of a secular system that starts with man’s word as the ultimate authority and not God’s Word. As parents, my husband and I have the responsibility to teach our child the truth about origins from the Word of God. The church also has this responsibility. Parents and churches need to take this responsibility very seriously. As many studies have shown, two-thirds of our young people or more are leaving the church. Our research, published in the book Already Gone, showed that these young people did not believe in the truthfulness of God’s Word, and for many it was related to a disbelief in Genesis.

A homeschool mom once said to me, “Every parent homeschools.” And she’s right. No matter who you to choose to partner with for your child’s education, God has given parents the ultimate responsibility of instructing their children in the truth of God’s Word (Deuteronomy 6:4–9). I encourage you to check out our great resources that can help you achieve this goal.

Keep fighting the good fight of the faith!