There is a group in America which is attempting to undermine scientific knowledge and understanding. They invade our school boards, push an anti-science platform, and attempt to destroy the fundamentals of life science. They have the gall to do all of this under the guise of moral superiority and the false premise that evolution is not a demonstrable fact. They are the young Earth creationists, a group which attempts to dismantle the curriculum of biology classes and replace evolution with the idea that the Earth was created less than 6,000 years ago. This viewpoint destroys modern scientific literacy, and it is time they are tolerated no longer.

Cobb County, Arizona, Board of EducationThis is just one example of the "disclaimer" stickers that creationists have convinced school boards to mark science textbooks with across the country. It is just one way to creationists attempt to undermine evolution education in the classroom.

Evolution is more than a theory; it is the fundamental concept central to modern biology. The entire field of life science is focused upon Darwinian evolution. Trying to study biology without believing in evolution is analogous to trying to study geology without believing in tectonic plates. Evolution is the mechanic by which biology makes sense of the world.

Because of this, it is incredibly important that evolution is taught to children. To have answers to the critical questions of life (where did we come from? How did life begin?), it is imperative that they have an understanding of evolution. However, young Earth creationists want to throw this completely out of the window. They want to posit that a creator designed life and the Earth itself 6,000 years ago. They deny the existence of macro-evolution, deny the existence of "deep time" (the idea that Earth is billions of years old), and demand their alternative is taught alongside evolution in biology classes as an equally valid theory.

Nothing could be more dangerous to scientific understanding in our next generation than equating evolution and creationism as equally valid. Trying to do so is similar to trying to offer the idea of a flat Earth as an equally likely alternative to the spherical Earth model. Evolution has a bevy of evidence which consistently shows the truth of evolution. Simultaneously, all of this evidence contradicts the views of young Earth creationists. Allowing children to choose between evolution and creationism as if the two are equally valid, evidenced, and accepted is simply unscientific. That is essentially allowing children to willfully choose between truth and a falsehood. These are no small errors that the creationists are peddling to children. Just on the age of the Earth, telling them that the Earth is only 6,000 years old does not come anywhere close to the real age of the Earth. Radiometric dating, geologic features, and a host of other evidence points to the Earth's age being close to 4.5 billion years old. Believing that the age of the Earth is 6,000 years old when it is really 4.5 billion years old is mathematically the same as believing the distance from New York to Los Angeles is 8 meters. These are not trivial errors. These are errors which promote willful ignorance and misinformation in children.

It is time to finally put an end to the crusades of young Earth creationists. It is time to take a firm stance in favor of science. It is time to stop allowing tax dollars to teach ideas in a scientific context which run contrary to the very fabric of modern biology and geology. This is not a minor issue. Our scientific understanding is the key to the future; it is our gateway to understanding the world, solving our problems, and making more discoveries. We cannot afford to let our future generation's scientific understanding be corrupted by falsehoods, and young Earth creationism is nothing more than a falsehood masking in moral authority.