Creationism discussion as well as choosing the options involved in creationism.

Creationism

The week prior to the start of the new semester would be a busy one for Sandra Maxwell. As one of three biology teachers at Irving Community College in Marshall, Alabama, she would have to meet with the whole science department, get her laboratory ready and review the new textbooks.

Last year the department had gone through the long, boring adoption procedure that involved reading as well as rating over fifteen different books. They had narrowed the fifteen down to three and the community college board picked from those. Sandra really did not care which one they had picked and no matter what she would have to redo her lessons to fit a new book.

There was even more about her new textbook that Sandra didn't know. The Alabama State Board of Education had accepted an anti-evolution insert to go in all high school and state college biology texts. The insert stated that evolution is a "controversial theory" acknowledged by "some scientists." When Sandra saw the insert she was upset. Could she teach creationism?

Creationism largely speaking, is the view that God (the Judeo-Christian God) created the universe, life and the various kinds of life. Various creationists have sought to undermine the theory of evolution by claiming for instance that the earth is only 10,000 years old not 4.5 billion and that therefore evolution hasn't had time to occur. They similarly have argued that DNA could not have developed on its own without the help of an "intelligent agent"-namely, God.

Ever since State v Scopes the famous Tennessee "Monkey Trial" in 1925 (dramatized in the 1960 film Inherit the Wind) the biology classroom has been the site of a battle pitting science against religion. In the era of the Scopes trial, American fundamentalists had pressed for as well as achieved in some states, the passage of anti-evolution laws. More recently as reported in Science magazine in 1996 creationists have attempted a new strategy- persuading local school boards to give "equal time" in school curricula to substitute theories such as "scientific creationism." In several states-Ohio as well as Georgia being two-legislatures are considering bills that will need biology teachers to present "alternative theories" to evolution.

Sandra Maxwell as well as her fellow biology teachers were confused and unhappy about the situation. As a teacher Sandra wasn't sure what to do.

describe what should Sandra do and Give three options.