UK bans teaching of creationism in any school that receives public funding

The decision effectively means that no school in the United Kingdom can teach creationism or any other “anti-scientific” dogma without losing the entirety of its funding, as they would be violating “the requirement on every academy and free school to provide a broad and balanced curriculum.”

According to a press release from the British Humanist Association (BHA), the new rules “explicitly require that pupils are taught about the theory of evolution, and prevent academy trusts from teaching ‘creationism’ as scientific fact.”

Not even Intelligent Design — the favored faux-scientific theory of American creationists who wish to import biblical beliefs into public school classrooms — can be taught, as “creationism” is defined by the new rule as “any doctrine or theory which holds that natural biological processes cannot account for the history, diversity, and complexity of life on earth and therefore rejects the scientific theory of evolution.”

As BHA Faith Schools Campaigner Richy Thompson noted, the reason behind this change was that “every young person is entitled to a high quality, broad and balanced education. This includes in biology, where evolution is a central topic and is vital to understanding how human life came to be. On the other hand, ideas such as young earth creationism should not be taught as scientifically valid for the very simple reason that they are not.”

www.rawstory.com...

My faith (heh) in humanity was partially restored today after reading the above, reason and logic has overcome superstition and myth and we can now rest assured that our children won't be indoctrinated with such nonsense, even if it is only on this small rock.

Now it's up to the US to follow suit....

a reply to: Prezbo369

Darn....are you in for a surprise!

a reply to: Prezbo369

The problem with this is that now they have to ban evolution, because one can not exist without the other.

a reply to: soulpowertothendegree

You seem to think you now about evolution......can you elaborate on how it requires creationism?...

a reply to: Prezbo369

Yeah follow suit....

“every young person is entitled to a high quality, broad and balanced education. This includes in biology, where evolution is a central topic and is vital to understanding how human life came to be

High quality? haha....Yeah high quality teaching kids the THEORY of evolution is more "scientific" than creationism....If you are basing it on "science", then don't teach anything about any form of how we all came to be, because there is none!

Science holds no weight to where or how we came to be.....I feel bad for the kids that really want the truth and are now going to be forced into hearing a "theory" that isn't real.....God is real, but if the school system doesn't want kids to learn about God, then they should abandon it all and let them form their own opinion on how we came to be instead of being force-fed a joke theory that is wrong...

Blast away! I believe in God....

About time really.
We will reap the rewards in a generation when we have clued up kids without the nonsense in their heads.

a reply to: Chrisfishenstein

I believe in God also but know evolution is happening all the time.
I wonder how many times someone had to explain scientific theory opposed to just a theory to you?.

originally posted by: Prezbo369
a reply to: soulpowertothendegree

You seem to think you now about evolution......can you elaborate on how it requires creationism?...

Oh I don't know.....Maybe because there needs to be a reason for something to exist before it can evolve....That's a good start! We may have evolved, but God created us before we could evolve.....

Well, I think religious mythology can be taught at home and in the church adequately. I do think they should at least mention it without having to go into any detail.

I don't believe in creationism as the Bible portrays, to me it seems like a magical fantasy, something to be taught at Hogwarts -- but I still think people should be aware of what others believe.

I'm pretty sure even at Hogwarts they taught what the Muggles believed in.

a reply to: Chrisfishenstein

Thank you for making my point for me.......'just a theory'.....

a reply to: MystikMushroom

Yup they can go into that in RE classes just not any science class.

Good news, can't believe they teach any sort of religious creation theory in our public funded shools

originally posted by: MystikMushroom
Well, I think religious mythology can be taught at home and in the church adequately. I do think they should at least mention it without having to go into any detail.

I don't believe in creationism as the Bible portrays, to me it seems like a magical fantasy -- but I still think people should be aware of what others believe.

I'm pretty sure even at Hogwarts they taught what the Muggles believed in.

In religious class sure, taught as myth yes, but not in the science class....

a reply to: Prezbo369

I wish the U.S. would follow suit. Unfortunately, there are too many religious fanatics in politics for it to have much of a chance.

a reply to: Prezbo369

When I went to high school there were alternative classes for the devout- I went to those classes to escape math, and I was welcomed to a muslim woman being stoned to death on video.

After that I went back to math. I didn't like math but I liked it more than seeing a woman being stoned to death.

There are plenty of schools that will cater for the creationists, and public schools should be left to cater for those budding scientists.

For the record this was not a Muslim class, It was something else-it was either christian or catholic, take your pick. It was 45 minutes of people being tortured and the...teacher? asked us questions about what we saw. I should've stayed in math.

a reply to: Prezbo369

Yeah I can see your point. I think that everyone should get a broad spectrum education. If someone's atheist kid learns that some people think God waved his hands and brought us all into existence, it's not going to taint him forever and ruin his life. If anything it will give the kid information and may lead him/her to be more tolerant, realizing that other people have different beliefs. Later on in life, once they are grown they can then make a determination for themselves what they feel is right for themselves.

originally posted by: Blazemore2000
a reply to: Prezbo369

I wish the U.S. would follow suit. Unfortunately, there are too many religious fanatics in politics for it to have much of a chance.

Such a law would be unconstitutional in many states.


The very concept of American freedom requires belief in a God. It doesn't matter what you call it, or what you think it looks like, but if you don't have a god, flying spaghetti monster, whatever, you are not a true American. Sorry for your luck.

The new America will be a very very sad place.

a reply to: Chrisfishenstein

Ya when you base your argument on "its just a theory" then you are starting off on a bad foot .

What makes god any more real then the theory that is wrong?

a reply to: Chrisfishenstein
Which God are we talking about? Got quite a multi cultural population in the UK. Muslims, Sikhs, Christians
You can't expect them all to believe in your mythological God

a reply to: ISawItFirst

Thats a new one American freedom requires a belief in God? not very free If you have to believe in God is it?.