Religious Faith and the Geological Sciences

Extract

The Creationist/ Scientist conflict, centering on the teaching of evolution in public, has become an ideological battleground in some parts of the U.S. The constitutional requirement for separation of Church and State is being countered by sophisticated maneuvering that attempts to present Creationism as an alternate, non-religious, legitimate scientific paradigm (model). On the other hand, the counter-claim that a religion-free approach is itself an alternative belief system, and therefore should also be prohibited by the Constitution, is not satisfactorily resolved. Left in the middle are children, students and lay people for whom not the constitutional issue, but the actual out-of-court resolution of the conflict between science and religion, is of considerable importance.