McMINNVILLE, Ore. (BP)–You want to instruct kids in public school that homosexuality is natural, normal and healthy? In some states sympathetic administrators will vehemently defend you. In the wake of Sept. 11 you feel children need to be taught about Islam? At least one school district in California will welcome you with open arms. Dare to suggest to high school science students that you believe there are problems with the theory of evolution, meanwhile, and you will probably come under fire.
Many school districts in Massachusetts, California, and Oregon present a variety of aberrant sexual activities as healthy alternatives to heterosexuality. Administrations defend the “gay-friendly” curriculum on the grounds that it reduces “harassment” of homosexual students. Instruction is “age-appropriate” and begins as early as kindergarten in some districts. According to a Boston Globe report, one Massachusetts teacher required high school students to read a text that promoted beastiality, pederasty, homosexuality between young boys and sexual self-gratification by both boys and girls.
The Union School District of Byron, Calif., mandates an intensive three-week course on Islam, reports ASSIST News Service. Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks at the hands of Muslim extremists, the school leads seventh-graders to learn the tenets of Islam, study important figures of the faith, wear a robe and adopt a Muslim name. Children also are taught how to “pray in the name of Allah, the Compassionate and Merciful.”
Parents who have objected to the aforementioned “academic” offerings have been mostly ignored. However, let a student or parent complain that a teacher suggests the theory of evolution might have a flaw or two, and action is almost guaranteed.
Consider the case of Rodney LeVake, biology teacher at Faribault High School in Minnesota. In 1998 school officials reassigned him after he disclosed he wanted to include information that questioned the scientific principles of evolution in his science class.
According to a report in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune, LeVake made it clear that he did not want to teach creationism or make any references to God or religion; he simply wanted to point out what he deemed to be flaws in evolutionary theory.
LaVake took his case to court. After a series of appeals, the U.S. Supreme Court in early January declined to hear the case. The rejection of the appeal was without comment.
LaVake is not the first teacher to come under fire for refusing to bow to the god of evolution. Two years ago Kevin Haley, a biology instructor at Central Oregon Community College in Bend, Ore., lost his position for refusing to teach Darwin’s theory as fact. He, too, believed there were problems with evolution theory and felt compelled to say so.
Why are some school administrations willing to allow the overt instruction of controversial topics like homosexuality and eastern religion while censuring any criticism of evolution? Simply put, evolution is more than a scientific theory, it is the basis of a worldview with broad implications. Many in academia cling to this worldview known as naturalism.
William Provine, a biology professor at Cornell University, understands that Darwinism is not just about mutations and fossils. He embraces it as a complete philosophy that asserts all of life can be explained by natural causes acting randomly. This implies no need for a Creator. If there is no Creator — no God — then the entire body of Christianity collapses.
To ardent evolutionists, religion is nothing more than a cultural construct. They believe the existence of the varied religious traditions the world over supports their view. Therefore, most naturalists won’t object to public school instruction of a religion, especially if it challenges the exclusivity of Christianity.
Homosexuality finds a home in a worldview supported by evolution. In a constantly evolving system, variations within a species will develop. Most naturalists won’t have a problem with the instruction of sexual aberration as part of public school curricula. It is simply part of the reality of “nature.”
However, let someone suggest that there might be a flaw in the theory of evolution and that person is branded a heretic and must be banned from influencing our impressionable children. School administrators will not stand by and allow young minds to be polluted by such warped thinking. Academic freedom it seems is only extended to those who want to push perversion or challenge the veracity of Christianity.
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Boggs, whose column appears in Baptist Press each week, is pastor of Valley Baptist Church, McMinnville, Ore.
