Another State For Creation!

As more and more Christians nationwide are getting involved in grassroots efforts to de-emphasize the teaching of evolution in state-supported schools, the issue is heating up in AiG’s home state of Kentucky.

A Bluegrass State Poll conducted in early February (and published in Louisville’s “Courier-Journal” newspaper on February 20) found that 66% of Kentucky residents statewide believed that creation should be taught in its public schools along with evolution. Interestingly, 39% believed that only creation should be taught (a position, by the way, that is not advocated by AiG—AiG believes that students should be taught evolution, but that it should be taught “warts and all,” and that teachers have the academic freedom to teach creation if they so choose).

Also, 63% of those questioned (with a 3.5% margin of error) believed that creation is the better scientific model of origins. Considering that most science instructors in Kentucky probably follow the national pattern and teach evolution as a fact (not just as a theory), AiG is heartened to discover that evolutionary indoctrination in Kentucky’s schools has not been as effective as evolutionists have hoped. We surmise that: 1. those who have gone through the state school system have used their critical thinking skills and have recognized the scientific bankruptcy of macro-evolution, and 2. the religious training of many Kentucky residents has led them to be suspicious of teachings (such as evolution) that are contrary to the plain teachings of the Bible.

These poll numbers are not all that surprising when they are compared to the results of two national Gallup polls taken in the 1990s (although their questions were somewhat different than Kentucky’s poll). In both Gallup polls, about 90% of Americans believed in a Creator, and almost one half accepted the Biblical account of Creation (i.e., that Creation occurred only thousands of years ago). Nevertheless, the censorship of an opposing world view (creation) by evolutionary fundamentalists continues in most schools in America, public opinion notwithstanding.

The question of whether public school instructors should be allowed to teach creation in Kentucky is moot anyway. According to Kentucky law (Section 158.177 of the Kentucky Revised Statutes), public school teachers already have the academic freedom to “teach the theory of creation as presented in the Bible.”