I am a science teacher, and I spent years learning about how the world around us functions. I am also a Mormon, and I've spent my whole life trying to gain a personal understanding of how God functions.
In about a month I'll begin teaching my students about evolution. I will give them the evidence scientists have found over the years and I'll encourage them to research the information for themselves. I will not be teaching creationism.
Even though it confuses me (and frustrates me when they speak out against evolution), I have no problem with people who believe in Creationism. If you have your facts straight and you still choose to not believe, go on with your bad self. I don't care. My problem is when you try to force it into school curriculum.
See, scientists are not content with "I don't know." One of their biggest goals in life is to better understand how something works; whether it's the transcription and translation of DNA, the reasons behind earthquakes, or how fast a feather will fall, they strive to learn more. It goes against their nature to say, "this happens because of unknown forces that we can never understand." If I'm trying to teach my students the nature of science, why would I ever say, "here's the evidence we have, but there's also the option of going back in time before you knew any of this and just saying we have no idea how it works?"
From my experience, that is pretty much what Creationism is. A whole lot of "I don't know, and I don't care to find out," all because they're okay with keeping the workings of God a mystery.
Isn't that kind of against what God wants for us though? We read the scriptures and pray in order to better understand the mysteries of God. The leaders of the LDS church encourage us to go out and get as much education as we can so that we can better understand the mysteries of God. We're supposed to be hungry for information, not content with a lack of understanding.
On top of that, how would you feel is scientists treated everything that way? "Oh, cancer. Yeah, we're not sure how that works. We're pretty sure it's just a punishment." "Volcanic eruptions? There are no signs to prepare you for those. Nobody knows when God is going to make a volcano erupt." "Angels fly; I'm pretty sure physics is just a philosophical discussion." It just doesn't make sense to me. Creationism is not a science, and it has no place in a science classroom.
And to close, some Avatar:
