Thesis:
Evolution and religion has long been a topic of debate in history. Having a background of attending primary and secondary school in China and attending a Christian liberal art school in the United States, I have strong interest in studying the differences between the education on the topic of religion and evolution in the United States and People’s Republic of China. I will look at some possible causes for the differences.
Outline:
- What is religion
- What is evolution
- Education of evolution and religion in China
- Education of evolution and religion in the United States
- Propose some causes of the differences between China and the United States
- Conclusion
- State my personal opinion
What is religion?
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines religion as: “1, the service and worship of God or the supernatural, commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance;
2, a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices” (http://www.m-w.com/). There are many different branches of religion.
Figure 1. The world religion population composition
Figure 1 shows the composition of the world’s religious population (http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html). It is important to first discuss some of the thinking of a few major religions.
Buddhism does not believe in a creator god. It accepts modern ideas about the universe. Hinduism believes that the universe existed first, and then the divine spirit awoke within it and seeded itself and formed Brahma, who is the God. Hinduism, similar to Buddhism, has an evolutionary perspective of life. Both religions accept Darwin’s evolution theory.
Islam, Christianity and Judaism all share the same Mesopotamian mythologies (http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/sosteacher/re/37690.shtml). As shown in Figure1, over half of the world’s population believes in these religions. They believe the world was created by God in six days, which was recorded in the first chapter of Genesis of the Bible. God created the heaven and earth in the beginning and He created day and night on the first day. Then He separated water from the sky on the second day. On the third day God created vegetation, and on the fourth day He created the Sun, the moon and stars to govern day and night. On the fifth day, God created living creatures that live in the water and fly in the sky. One the sixth day, God made the land to produce living creatures on land, and He said “let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth and overall the creatures that move along the ground.” God created man in his own image, and He told man to be fruitful and multiply. On the seventh day, God rested from all the creation he had done.
What is evolution?
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary has many definition of the term “evolution” (http://www.m-w.com/). The one definition that this paper is mainly referring to is as follows: “a theory that the various types of animals and plants have their origin in other preexisting types and that the distinguishable differences are due to modifications in successive generations.”
Evolution is tightly associated with Charles Darwin. The British naturalist was under the influence of Charles Lyell, who argued in his book Principles of Geology that the Earth was shaped by accumulative, gradual changes instead of great catastrophes. Darwin traveled with the Beagle around the world and collected specimen. He published his book Origin of species in 1859.
The two major themes or Darwin’s theory are “Descent with Modification” and “Natural selection and adaptation.” Darwin believed that different species had one common ancestor in history. Differences accumulated generation after generation. Different environment put selective forces on the species and gradually species adapted to the environment and survived (Wyhe, 2004).
How is evolution and religion taught in China?
In China, children spend six years in primary school, three years in junior high school and three years in senior high school. In the 6 th year of primary school, there is a course named Natural Science that combines chemistry, physics and biology. Biology class is taught throughout junior high school. The theory of evolution is first introduced in class in the last year of junior high school. It is taught again in the second year of senior high school, the only year biology class is taught. This is based on my personal experience and there is some variation between different regions.
The chapter of evolution is always one of the last chapters. One of my textbooks from high school stated “On the topic of origin of life, there have been many hypotheses, such as creation by God, extraterrestrial origin, chemical evolution and so on. Since there has been much evidence supporting chemical evolution, this idea has been widely accepted” (Biology, 1999). The book then talks about the different stages of chemical evolution and then gets to the part about evolution. Under the heading of “theories of evolution”, the textbook mentioned Lamarck, Darwin’s natural selection, and so on. It is noted that the teacher always pointed out that there are many other different theories and Darwin’s idea is only one among them. Following the introduction of Darwin’s theory, there is usually discussion of evidence that supports Darwin’s theory of evolution. However, the tension of religion and evolution was never brought into attention into class.
Religion is first studied in the second year of senior high school in philosophy class. The definition given by our text book is “religion is people’s distorted opinion about the world when they are not competent to give an explanation of the world” (Political Science, 1999).
Also in China the majority of the schools are public, funded by the central government. The Bureau of Education has a guideline of course content that the textbooks should follow.
How is evolution and religion taught in the United States?
In the United States, sometimes referred to as “the melting pot of cultures”, there are many different worldviews. Consequently, there are a lot of different opinions on the topic of evolution and religion.
There has been a debate about teaching evolution or the creation story in public schools. This is just a glimpse of the tension. In the three years that I have spent in Goshen College, a small Christian liberal art school, I have observed some differences between United States and China.
Religion is of course a big part of the school curriculum. Every Goshen College student is required to take an Introductory Bible and religion class and an upper level class as the General Education program. In the science department, religion is never neglected. In my first class in Goshen College, a chemistry professor read us the first few verses, integrating some humorous factors with it. He jokingly said “well… this is biologists’ business” after he read the verses of God creating the vegetation. After reading Genesis 1:16, “God made two great lights-the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night,” he stated that “well, this is chemistry, and this is what we will be studying.” In the introductory biology course, the professor strongly emphasized that he is only presenting some evidence supporting the theory of evolution. In the course Biology Senior Seminar, evolution and religion is always a non-neglectable topic for discussion.
I have not attended primary schools here in the United States. However, personal conversations I had with my friends have given me some ideas of how education of evolution and religion is carried out. Obviously, difference exists between public schools and private Christian schools. One of my friends informed me that during high school, they did not talk about the theory of evolution. In the media, it is not uncommon to see tension in the school system whether or not evolution should be included in the curriculum. In the November 14 th Seattle Times ( Wyatt, 2004), an article titled “ Atlanta schools' evolution dispute comes under fire” reported a law suit in Georgia, in which “six parents and supported by the Georgia chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union claims that a disclaimer placed inside the covers of middle and high school science texts is contrary to the separation of church and state” (http://www.geotimes.org/current/WebExtra111204.html).
What are some reasons that account for the differences?
First of all, I think the religious composition of the countries accounts for the differences. In China, Daoists (Taoist), Buddhists, and Muslims compose 1%-2% of the nation’s population, and Christians 3%-4%. Compared to the atheist community, the religious population is very small in China . However, as compared to the United States’ population: Protestant 52%, Roman Catholic 24%, Mormon 2%, Jewish 1%, Muslim 1%, other 10%, none 10%, there is a great difference in the religious composition between China and the United States (http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html).
Secondly, China is a communist state, while the United States is constitution-based federal republic with a strong democratic tradition. The worldviews are very different between the two states. Dr. Richard Wright (1989) defined worldview in his book Biology Through the Eyes of Faith as “a guide to life, a basic set of values that we acquire primarily from our culture” (Wright, 1989). Obviously the different worldviews will result in different values in eduction. Marxism world view is widely applied to the Chinese society in pursuit of communism. Karl Marx was a devout atheist, and he once said “religion is the opiate of the state.” Students in China started learning about Marxism from first year of junior high school in political science, and they also have to take Marxism, Theories of Mao throughout college. This seems to be the same requirement as in Christian colleges that everyone is required to take Bible/religions courses. In the Marxism philosophy courses, the philosophy of materialism was taught. Webster dictionary defines materialism as “a theory that physical matter is the only or fundamental reality and that all being and processes and phenomena can be explained as manifestations or results of matter.” This definition denies the existence of spiritual life, in other words, religion. In the education system in China, teachers are not allowed to talk about religion in ways of preaching. Religious conducts can only be carried out in churches, temples and religious establishments.
The differences in the society also account for some of the differences in education about evolution and religion. China has a central government which has control over almost all aspects of the society. The Bureau of Education sends out guidelines of curriculum nationwide. However, as a comparison, in the United States, the separation between church and state is highly emphasized. Educators are being cautious about how to conduct education of evolution as a science subject and religion.
Conclusion:
A drastic difference is observed between the education of evolution and religion in China and the United States. It is proposed that the difference in the religious composition of the countries and the consequently different worldview are possibly the cause of the differences.
My Personal Opinion:
Being exposed to the two very different systems on the education of evolution and religion, I have formed my own opinion about how this topic should be carried out. In my opinion, it is important to inform the students that there are many theories of the origin of life. The educators have the liberty to lay out as many proposed mechanisms as possible to introduce students to different people’s opinion. At the same time, it is also important that the students are introduced to the evidences that seem to support Darwin’s theory of evolution. Both educators and students should have an open-mind to possible theories, either scientific, or religious.
Bibliography:
Biology, People’s Education Press, Beijing, 1999 (translated text).
CIA-The World Fact Book, 2004. Retrieved Nov 01, 2004 from, http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html
Mirriam-Webster Dicitonary, [Electronic Version] from, http://www.m-w.com/
More challenges to evolution, Geotimes, November 12, 2004 [Electronic Version]. Retrieved November 15 2004 from, http://www.geotimes.org/current/WebExtra111204.html
Political Science, People’s Education Press, Beijing, 1999 (translated text).
Theories of Creation, Retrieved Oct 26, 2004 from, http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/sosteacher/re/37690.shtml
van Wyhe, John The Writings of Charles Darwin on the Web. Retrieved November 13, 2004 from, http://pages.britishlibrary.net/charles.darwin/
Wright, Richard T., Biology Through the Eyes of Faith. Harper & Row, San Francisco, 1989.
Wyatt, Kristen. Atlanta schools' evolution dispute comes under fire . Seattle Times, November 14, 2004 [Electronic Version]. Retrieved November 15 2004 from, http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002090536_evolution14.html