What is the Christian position on the teaching of evolution in schools?
There is no single take, but I'd like to present an argument for a more enlightened approach to the problem this conflict of perception presents.A group view is often a perception created by mass media for the general public's consumption of news information. In the case of evolution instruction in public education, the news media perception is that Christians outrightly reject evolution and have recently promoted "intelligent design" as a viable option. But, of course, you can find many different views within the Christian community on this subject for which the news media hasn't enough time to present. For economic reasons the mass media must condense information, and the result is very often a perception that opposing viewpoints have no common ground. For example, one can easily conclude that a Theologian can't accept evolution, or that a Scientist can't believe in God, because of how the public's access to information is presented in the media. This phenomenom is compounded by each group's defensive reaction to overly simplistic news reporting which causes unnecessary partisanship. The affected parties begin to construct borders and man them with thought police.My answer to your question, "What is the Christianity take on the teaching of evolution in schools?", is based on the presumption you mean taxpayer funded education. The teaching of evolution theory in taxpayer funded education should be held to the same standard as teaching mathematics, for example. That is, since most of the taxpaying public can agree that 1+1=2, mathematics has no problem with the people who pay for its teaching (except for when little Johnny is given a pass if he thinks 1+1=3 because we shouldn't hurt his feelings). My point is that education funded by a broad base of taxpayers should reflect broadly accepted consensus views, such as 1+1=2. And my contention, along with many other Christians, is that the theory of evolution is not presented to public school children with all of its problems. It seems that the scientific community has decided that since good Science cannot be guided by a belief in God, which I agree with, and since evolution theory is their best explanation of life's origins, they conclude that it is the best explanation, although ironically, this position seems to require as much faith as believing in God. That evolution theory's flaws are avoided when educating children is the fault of your local and national educators and the people they represent, that is, you.AnswerIt depends on which Christian Denomination. Some denomination reject the story of Creation as Literal; the Catholics for example. And some will adhere that the story of Creation is literal;ex; At the Reformation the vast authority of Luther was thrown in favour of the literal acceptance of Scripture as the main source of natural science. The allegorical and mystical interpretations of earlier theologians he utterly rejected. "Why," he asks, "should Moses use allegory when he is not speaking of allegorical creatures or of an allegorical world, but of real creatures and of a visible world, which can be seen, felt, and grasped? Moses calls things by their right names, as we ought to do....I hold that the animals took their being at once upon the word of God, as did also the fishes in the sea."Not less explicit in his adherence to the literal account of creation given in Genesis was Calvin. He warns those who, by taking another view than his own, "basely insult the Creator, to expect a judge who will annihilate them." He insists that all species of animals were created in six days, each made up of an evening and a morning, and that no new species has ever appeared since. He dwells on the production of birds from the water as resting upon certain warrant of Scripture, but adds, "If the question is to be argued on physical grounds, we know that water is more akin to air than the earth is." As to difficulties in the scriptural account of creation, he tells us that God "wished by these to give proofs of his power which should fill us with astonishment."Another narration that is being debated; whether it's Literal or Allegorical is the story of "Noah's Deluge."
