Creationism and Evolution Essay Example

For many centuries, man has sought to explain the causes of natural phenomena. As a result, different theories have been developed to discuss and explain the origin of certain phenomena. To explain these mysteries of life, theories such as the big bang theory, the evolution theory, and the continental drift theory have been developed to discuss the origin of the universe, the origin of man and the existence of different continents respectively. These are examples of some scientific theories developed to respond to man's greatest questions. However, the existence of such theories has not been without challenges. Religion, for example, has advocated that the origin of man was through creation. An example of such theories is the Christian creation theory. Despite these theories co-existing, there has not been any empirical scientific support, and hence no meaningful test has been done to prove the theory. Therefore, creationism and evolution theory should not be taught in a science classroom as creationism lacks empirical support.

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The term theory and hypothesis has been used by scientist to describe the nature of science. A hypothesis has been described as a tentative claim that leads to testable deductions. For a hypothesis to be true, it must be tested and verified. Failure to be verified leads to abandonment or modification (National Academy of Sciences (U.S.), Institute of Medicine (U.S.), 2008). A theory, on the other hand, is a well-substantiated explanation of a natural world aspect that incorporates inferences, tested hypotheses, facts, and laws. Notably, a scientific fact is a repeatedly confirmed observation and accepted to be true for all practical purposes ("Introduction | Science and Creationism: A View from the National Academy of Sciences, Second Edition," n.d.). From these definitions, creationism can be seen as merely a hypothesis that has failed the test of science and should, therefore, be abandoned.

Scientifically, explanations of the natural world should be limited and based on observation and experimentations. For many years following the development of the evolution theory by Charles Darwin in his book, the origin of species, a scientist has developed the theory and more discoveries have been made ("Introduction | Science and Creationism: A View from the National Academy of Sciences, Second Edition," n.d.). The theory focuses on the evidence for the origin of life, earth and the universe, evidence of biological evolution and the evidence of human evolution. Hence, evolution is one of the scientifically well-established explanations of the natural world. On the other hand, creationism is based on faith and varies from religion to religion (National Academy of Sciences (U.S.), Institute of Medicine (U.S.), 2008). Even though some explanations developed by scientists are not conclusive since they can be proven incorrect when tested further, these explanations are uniform and acceptable by scientists worldwide.

The National Academy of Sciences has a clear stand that creationism has no place at all in any science curriculum at any given level. This claim is based on the extensive scientific evidence from biology to astronomy (National Academy of Sciences (U.S.), Institute of Medicine (U.S.), 2008). The findings published by the academy in the book, Science and creationism are a clear guide curriculum designers, boards of administrators and education policymakers on the question of whether creationism should be included in the science classrooms("Introduction | Science and Creationism: A View from the National Academy of Sciences, Second Edition," n.d.). Chiefly, the enormous amount of scientific explanations developed from the 19th century have proven beyond any reasonable doubt that the evolution theory has met the threshold to be the only theory taught in science classrooms to explain the origin of man, the earth and the universe.

Conclusion

In conclusion, while a hypothesis is a tentative statement that leads to testable deductions, a theory is a more substantiated explanation about a claim. The mystery behind the origin of man, the universe and the earth has been a concern of many scientists. The development of the evolution theory from the mid 19th century has seen many scientists conduct extensive research on the matter. The findings have by far proven that evolution is the scientifically accepted theory for the origin of man. As a result, creationism has lost its place in a science classroom set up and should therefore not be taught.

References

Introduction | Science and Creationism: A View from the National Academy of Sciences, Second Edition. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.nap.edu/resource/creationism/introduction.html

National Academy of Sciences (U.S.), Institute of Medicine (U.S.). (2008). Science, evolution, and creationism. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.