I'm going to come right out and say it... I believe a christian can believe in creationism and believe in evolution.
Ooooo. I know what your thinking or at least I think I know what your thinking. But hear me out. Evolution is defined in the American Heritage dictionary as:
1. A gradual process in which something changes into a different and usually more complex or better form.
2. Biol. - The theory that groups of organisms, as species, may change with passage of time so that descendants differ morphologically and physiologically from their ancestors.
Now if you use that definition then why is it such a big deal to believe in evolution. I believe that God created the heavens and the earth as well as man, women and the animals and everything in-between. I also believe that the same heavens, earth, men, women and animals have evolved from what they were when they were first created.
My belief stems not just from faith but from fact. Scientific fact. Let's take humans. It is a fact that the next generation of humans as an average are taller and live longer than their descendants. Is that not evolution? So I do not see why the two can not co-exist. I may go so far as to say that nowadays it is more the people that only believe in evolution that have the problem with creationism more so than vice-versa.
However, I do see the problem in the reasoning of only believing in one and not the other. In believing that humans evolved from apes (biological evolution), taking a Darwinian approach or believing in the Big Bang Theory - I can see what all the fuss is about concerning creationism or even intelligent design. Partly because they feel threatened in their theories and partly because they are happy in their world thinking that there is not a judgement on their behavior and thus do not have to succumb to a higher moral judgement other than their peers and society - which we all know is in decay anyway.
Anyway, I still do not see what is wrong with believing in evolution AND creationism. The two can go hand in hand. I can believe that the earth, people and animals have evolved and also believe that God had a hand in that. I can believe that evolution is not an accident or just something that inevitably happens.
So having said that, I do not see a problem in teaching evolution in schools as long as it fits with what the definition says and is not taken further. If we are not allowed to speak out about creationism and God in school then it is not right to speak out about biological evolution.
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