Jut picking a nit, but it's CHURCH and State..not 'religion'.
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Intelligent explanations of the real issue here would be appreciated!
IMHO, the evolution vs creationism uproar is quite simple.
Evolutionists maintain that everything was created by a biomechanical process, brought about by the trial and error of nature. This makes humanity an accident.
Creationists believe the world was conceived and constructed by a higher being, brought about by His will and design. This makes humanity a miracle.
While creationism doesn't necessarily exclude evolution, evolution DOES exclude creationism.
You'd think in a land where we have the ability to freely discuss anything, we'd be able to find a middle ground.
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As a historical footnote, the Bible was used regularly in schoolrooms up to about 1950.
False statement.
Creationism as generally discussed on this forum and most other says that God created Man: {poof} as literally stated in Genesis. This says that Evolution did not happen/is not happening.
Evolution is silent on what happens outside of observable evidence and events. You can believe in a God that created the Universe and set in motion all the mechanism we see (in fact I think the more we learn the more awesome God is -- creationism minimizes God).
"While creationism doesn't necessarily exclude evolution, evolution DOES exclude creationism."
That's not true. There are many scientists who believe in evolution, but also believe that at the very beginning there was a creative religious source. Not all scientists who believe in evolution are atheists, or even agnostics. Evolution does NOT exclude creationism unless you make up a definition of evolution that fits your preconceived notions of it. Evolution and creationism are not mutually exclusive concepts.
You can try to negate the concept of evolution as hard as you can and you would still be ignoring the fact that evidence of evolution is all around us, and has been proven by scientific hypothesis, experimentation, analysis, testing, proofs, and peer review. Do you disagree that we have the vestiges of gills and a tail in our genetic build? Where did that come from? Do you deny that humans adapt to their climates in evolutionary ways? The melatonin of blacks, the slitted eyes of Eskimoes? That there once were Neanderthals? That there were dinosaurs that are probably today's birds?
And none of that denies the existence of an original creator of the world we live in, and indeed, of the entire universe. And that creator is God who allowed for the evolution that took place. But if you "teach" that in a science course, the "lesson" would be over in about 1/2 day or less. Because about all you can say is that at the beginning of the evolutionary process, there could be the hand of God and God's intelligent design. And that the beauty and symmetry of our world is a proof of that possibility. Now, anyone who is religious and practices their religion and teaches their children about religious beliefs, knows that already. That's about it. Then it's back to teaching evolution in the classroom again, as what else can you say about creationism that wouldn't then veer into the realm of religious philosophy and belief as versus the study of analytic scientific discovery.