If you think evolution is something that directly defies God – or almost any other deity – you couldn’t be more wrong.

It’s been 150 years since Charles Darwin’s book “On the Origin of Species” was published. Since 1859, Darwin’s book has inspired masses of people to believe in evolution.

For decades, the idea of evolution has garnered contempt from a vast amount of religious people. These people, for the most part, are called “Creationists” and seem to mostly consist of Christians. The very idea of evolution seems to offend them on a very deep, spiritual level.

But what’s offensive about the idea that, over the span of millennia, life on Earth has changed?

Reading the Bible, it’s hard to see why people have been up in arms about evolution. According to Genesis 1:28, “God blessed them [man], saying to them, ‘be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and conquer it.'”

Conquer the earth. Couldn’t an omnipotent being have just handed humanity the earth?

Maybe the ability to evolve is how we acquire dominion over the earth. Evolution, seen in this way, isn’t some foreign entity to religion; it’s an enhancement that is part of God’s Intelligent Design.

Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI both endorsed evolution in this way. Catholicism seems to have given consideration to the theory ever since Pope Pius XII’s 1950 Encyclical.

So, since the theory of evolution is being taught in schools across America, would it be right to give Christianity a fair shake and teach the Bible in schools?

No.

Schools should be held to a scientific standard. Subjects that cannot be proven, or at least scientifically analyzed, have no place in classrooms. To have faith in any religious belief requires the absence of tangible, observable proof that can be replicated in experiments.

We could, as a nation, choose to let the scientific standard go and allow the Bible to be taught in schools. But to make it fair for the other religions in America, we would have to also teach students about polytheistic religions, atheism, and other monotheistic religions.

And where would we draw the line on what is and is not a legitimate theory on Intelligent Design? What about less popular religions like Scientology?

The course load would be far too much to cover, even in a year. And aside from that, there’s another reason why religion should be kept out of our schools: it’s just unnecessary.

Across the entire world, there are places that are devoted to teaching theistic beliefs. They’re called churches, temples, mosques and dozens of other names.

The truth is: evolution doesn’t contend with religion so much as give another view on faith. And if evolution doesn’t go against religion, then there isn’t really a need for a religious counterpoint in schools.

David Loret de Mola can be reached at [email protected]