This is why Westboro Baptist Church is a joke

[kandrathe]

I feel the science class should be sensitive to how science data and religious beliefs clash.

Why? People's religious beliefs don't have a thing to do with science.

Sure they do. We all live in the observable, measurable world, the world of science. And, the physical world is also a part of the world of religion. Religion has a great history of scholarship. Archeology is science. Mendel, the father of genetics was an Augustinian friar. Or, more modern ones like, Professor, and Father Stanley Jaki of Seton Hall.

If science is at odds with the various religious beliefs of groups of people, it's not the fault of science.

I'm not saying to back off on the science. I'm saying that we should allow people to make up their own minds, and not castigate people for their beliefs. Even within the religious community, views are widely divergent. As FIT pointed out, on the extreme side fundamentalists calculate the age of the Earth based on counting the generations within the Bible and adhere to a strict view of biblical inerrancy. So, yes, you show them a millions year old fossil and describe carbon dating, or plate tectonics... ... then their heads explode. So, they need to also chill a bit, and decide whether or not to use their "god given brain" to consider the facts presented before them.

I've seen this argument before, and it always strikes me as a way of religious people to get their religious beliefs thrust into the teaching of science through the back door.

It doesn't need to be a war. If you throw the facts out there and let people make up their own minds, then its not threatening. It's not threatening for either side. But, if we continue to widen the divide between them, things only get worse. You end up with Branch Davidians, the Raelian cult, Heaven's Gate, Ted Kazinsky, Neo-Luddism or eventually sectarian led riots and violence. Scientists need to stop being another faction, and patiently consider the unbelievers as prospective allies rather than enemies. I'd rather trust my public school to present the information in a way that doesn't force my child to choose between evangelical fundamentalism, and militant activists for New Atheism. Because if that's how we draw the sides, all of our children will be schooled at home, or in a factional cloister unprepared to deal with the reality of diversity of thought.

Science is clearly about observable phenomena, and religion is clearly about spiritual phenomena. Religions primary function is describe the relationship between man and his Creator. Whereas, sciences primary function is describe the relationship between man and creation (or universe if you like). And, between them, government serves to govern the relationships between each of us. I like Stephen Jay Gould's direction on Non-overlapping magisteria, although in practice they both muddle about the middle a bit. But, it's a forgivable offense.