A bill going through the Indiana house allowing public schools to teach creationism in science classes has potential of bringing up debate and a challenge from the Supreme Court.
Senate Bill 89 states that a school administration may require the teaching of multiple religious theories, including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Scientology, concerning the origin of life. The Senate passed last week on a 28-22 vote and is in the process of acquiring consideration in the house of representatives.
Sen. Dennis Kruse, R-Auburn, sponsor of the bill, told the Associated Press the U.S. Supreme Court has not ruled on the teaching of creationism since the 1980s and could rule in a different way.
The news about the bill passing through the senate came as a surprise to Sheron Frazer-Burgess, assistant professor of social foundations of education and multicultural education at the Teachers College.
"[The bill] is certainly within the right of a local school district to offer a class on comparative religion, or comparative religious theory of the origins of life," she said. "However, they are not permitted to equate these theories with a scientific theory."
Junior secondary education major Emilee Wolfley said though she does not completely disagree with the idea behind the bill, because she can see some problems involving how teachers approach life origin theory education.
"I feel like students need to know every single theory there is, but the problem with this bill in particular is that it's very religion heavy, and so, to me it's breaking that boundary between separation of church and state," she said.
The bill would not require schools to teach creationism and there could be flexibility on how to add the teachings to the curriculum, but Frazer-Burgess said she would encourage her student teachers to be aware of the law in Indiana.
"I would encourage teachers to be aware of the distinction between allowing people to practice their religious beliefs, but at the same time promoting one particular religious belief as being preeminent or better than the other," she said.
Wolfley said while it would make job more difficult, she would adapt to the law and teach creationism.
"If the bill passed and I was told that I need to teach creationism I would be uncomfortable with it but I couldn't just not teach it," she said.
Frazer-Burgess said a bill like SB 89 could place some challenges on the teacher who is not trained on teaching religion in a science class, but if there was a chance of it becoming a law, it could be an opportunity for the education of how scientific and religious theories compare.
"I do think it could be an opportunity for that teacher to talk about what makes a theory a scientific as compared with a theory about the origin of life. Depending on age and grade level it could be an opportunity for the student to study how scientific theories work compared to religious beliefs."
However, Elizabeth Agnew, associate professor or religious studies, said the bill blatantly violates the establishment clause of the constitution. If the bill becomes a law, she said, there could be a lawsuit following up.
"This is a legislative issue that was voted down six times last year in other states," she said. "It is interesting on a number of fronts. To teach something, there need to be standards, and this does not meet the basic criteria for secondary education."
Agnew, who has worked in the areas of religion in American culture and religion and social ethics, said although the bill emphasizes teaching through multiple religions, there still seems to be a misunderstanding of the U.S. Supreme Court's precedent.
An explanation of the establishment clause written by Justice Hugo Black in 1947 states that neither a state nor a the federal Government can pass laws which aid one or all religions.
Agnew said studying religious texts in literature classes cannot be compared to bringing religious education in a science class.
"[Congress] is elevating it to a level of inquiring it's a level of faith, and not a matter of proven scientific hypothesis," she said. "A lay person's view of what theory means can be different from the scientific approach."
However, Agnew said she can see confusion among students, teachers and parents about what to teach. Just like there are many religions, there are also many theories on the origin of life within one religion.
"There seems to be a debate on whether there needs to be training, and there will be no curricular guideline," she said. "There will be confusion because people will simply speak from their opinion and probably won't talk about all religions."
Wolfley said as a secondary level educator she would need the necessary training to teach different religious views on the origins of life.
"I definitely feel like I would need extra training because I'm personally not super affiliated with any religion in particular," she said.
With religion in public school education being a controversial subject, Wolfley said a law about teaching creationism should not be so linear.
"You can't just leave it open to anyone's interpretation, you need to give a little bit of direction," she said. "The thing about teaching is you can choose whatever viewpoint you want to go with and you teach it the way you want to teach it. With that being said, if I were to teach creationism the way I want to teach it, it would probably be way different from someone else's."
Agnew said without a solid structure and plan and without meeting Indiana's education standards, the bill doesn't have much of a chance to become a law.
"This is a leap of faith, in a sense" Agnew said. "It's like they said ‘we are going to leap into this unprepared and say we are going to do this because we believe this is the thing to do or because we believe it, therefore we should be able to do it.'"
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