By Lewis Loflin
Public schools are a battleground. On one side, the Left rams through woke ideology—Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) dogma that tags kids as oppressors or victims before they can spell. On the other, Christian fundamentalists demand Genesis be taught as science, clutching a literal Bible to fend off modernity. Both are wrong. If the Left can peddle its poison, Christians deserve equal time to present their Bible. Fair’s fair. But neither belongs in science class.
Americans aren’t as divided as the zealots think. About 10% identify as atheists (Pew, 2023), steady for years. Church attendance hovers between 20% weekly and 40% monthly (Gallup, 2023 trends), down from decades past but not dead. Most don’t reject God—they ditch churches for reasons like scandal or boredom, not biology lessons. Evolution? A slim majority accept it, but 80% of them say God’s behind it (Gallup, 1997—latest clear breakdown). Six-day Creationism and militant atheism are fringe; the public’s in the messy middle.
Schools don’t drive this. Colleges do—75% of grads ditch literal Genesis there, not in high school (old stat, still holds). Leftist elites churn out teachers steeped in secular bias, hostile to tradition. DEI isn’t science; it’s politics. Neither is Creationism—its “revelationists” like Answers in Genesis twist facts to prop up Paul’s Original Sin, a theology shaky without a literal Adam. Science should stand apart, not bend to either camp’s agenda.
The data’s clear: no lab has conjured life from nothing. Decades of trying—zip. Self-creation’s a bust. Yet fundamentalists overreach, claiming a 6,000-year-old Earth based on Bishop Ussher’s 17th-century math. Reason laughs. Meanwhile, secularists at places like the National Center for Science Education cloak their atheism as “neutrality,” policing classrooms like thought cops. Both sides peddle dogma, not truth.
Here’s the rub: 64% of Americans want creationism taught alongside evolution (Pew, 2005—still cited today). Not just Bible-thumpers—secular folks too. They’re pragmatic: “Teach it all, let kids sort it.” I’d rather science stay pure—admit what’s unproven (like life’s origin) and skip the supernatural. But if the Left keeps shoving woke garbage down kids’ throats, Christians have every right to counter with their Book. Equal footing, or none at all.
Deism cuts through this noise. Reason and nature reveal a Creator—no need for Paul’s Gnostic riddles or leftist word games. Schools should teach critical thinking, not pick winners in the culture war.
Larry Booher, a biology teacher at John Battle High School in Washington County, Virginia, just outside Bristol, sparked a firestorm. For 15 years, he handed out his homemade textbook, Science Battles Evolution, claiming:
“There is no real scientific evidence that a so-called ‘big bang’ ever occurred...Skeletons of modern man occasionally have been discovered in rock dated by evolutionists as lower Tertiary, much older than man’s supposed ape-like ancestors...evolution is, in reality, an unreasonable and unfounded hypothesis that is riddled with countless scientific fallacies. Biblical Creationism, on the other hand, does correlate with the known facts of science...”
The local school board, which once banned a college-level biology text for clashing with religious views, claimed ignorance of Booher’s actions. I don’t buy it. After an anonymous tip in 2005, Superintendent Alan Lee called Booher “one of the finest science teachers I’ve ever been around” but forced him to stop. Booher regretted it, telling The Roanoke Times, “I can’t change my classroom into a Sunday school class.” His book, self-funded for 25-40 students, leaned on dubious sources—internet scraps and cherry-picked quotes, not science.
Public reaction? My letters to the editor stirred the pot—fuzzy thinking abounds. Fundamentalists insist science classes empty pews, but most evolution believers still affirm God, just not their version. Booher’s stunt reflects a broader push—vouchers, homeschooling—driven by fear of science and “alternate” beliefs. His 4004 BC universe, cribbed from Bishop Ussher, is laughable; his sources, debunked. Yet the New York Times (2005) found 64% back teaching creationism alongside evolution—a pragmatic nod, not an endorsement.
Acknowledgment: I’d like to thank Grok, an AI by xAI, for helping me draft and refine this article. The final edits and perspective are my own.
