Once upon a time, the founding fathers had a set of ideals on which they built our country. Since so many early settlers fled to America hoping to escape religious persecution, it makes sense that one of the pillars of the newly formed United States was religious freedom.

In fact, freedom of religion was so important to the founders of our country, it’s one of the first items addressed in the Bill of Rights, which states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise there of.”

Although I support a living constitution, this passage is traditionally interpreted as meaning that not only is the government forbidden from creating an official religion of the state, but they also must refrain from supporting any particular religion.

In light of the separation of church and state, it is preposterous that anyone would dare to suggest the teaching of religious ideals in our public schools. I oppose teaching creationism, or “intelligent design” alongside evolution for three reasons.

First, it is unconstitutional. Second, creationism has no place in science classes, because it isn’t science. Third, I believe it is wrong for the religious right to force their conservative beliefs on the nation’s children.

Let’s talk a little more about how teaching creationism blatantly violates our constitutional freedoms. In every article I have read about schools implementing creationism into their curriculum, they teach a version of the Genesis story and substitute “God” for “the Creator,” or more recently “the Intelligent Designer.” They are teaching the Bible as fact. If this does not promote Christianity and Christian ideals, then call me Mary Magdalene.

As mentioned before, there is no way to pass Creationism off as science. In my psychology class, my professor repeatedly stressed the fact that something must be falsifiable in order to be scientific. This means that there must be a way to prove that a theory is wrong before it is considered scientific fact.

Now, I know there is no way to prove the accuracy of the Big Bang theory, but there is evidence that evolution happens. We have fossil records that date back billions of years to support the theory of evolution. We have no evidence that an intelligent designer did anything, nor can we prove his or her existence, for that matter.

Now, if a parent really wants his or her kids to learn all of this creationism business, by all means, go right ahead and teach them. Send them to Sunday school. Talk to them about how you think the world began, or send them to a religious institution. Just do not force my kids to read “Of Pandas and People,”-the intelligent design textbook- in their science classes.

Send comments to Erin at [email protected].