Spiritual and religious beliefs don't really mix

Logic and reason took a back seat last week to the hysterical demands of overly-zealous school board members in Dover, Pa..

They voted 6-3 to include the teaching of "intelligent design" as a rejoinder to the 9th grade science lesson covering evolution.

Most of us understand the theory of evolution: It's the creation of the world through millions of years of geological change and the development of life through genetic change. Intelligent design is based on the idea that the universe is so complex that it must have been created by an unspecified higher power - essentially just a watered-down version of Creationism.

Obviously this has gotten everybody upset because we have never quite figured out whether schools are responsible for teaching personal or religious beliefs and if so, where do we draw the line. I guess this is just another example of the culture war being waged between religious and secular folk.

But I'd caution against the mixing of spiritual and religious beliefs with scientific theories and facts. Just like cats and dogs, the two have never gotten along.

For example, when Galileo was thinking about the Earth revolving around the sun and the fact that we may just be part of a larger cosmos and not the center of the universe, the Church sentenced him to house arrest until he died in 1642.

And the Church, always slow to admit earthly mistakes, in 1992 conceded that maybe they went a little overboard with the punishment and perhaps Galileo did have some pretty good ideas with the whole order of the universe theory.

So do we really need religion poking its head into the science classroom• Do we want to quash scientific curiosity for fear of it challenging established beliefs• If so, what sort of educational climate are we creating•

Schools, which already have enough problems as it is, should not be required to take up the mantle of teaching religious beliefs. Those sacred and important beliefs should be the Church's responsibility because, well, they are the ones who have the best training for teaching this kind of lesson.

So for all those loudmouths who cry out against secular, publicly-funded schools should instead put their energy into volunteering with their church's day care center or Sunday school. Maybe they could donate money to the local youth group or work with disadvantaged kids. That way they could ensure that children are receiving the proper religious education, but obviously this would mean a much less public manner of showing their devotion.