Everyone is entitled to think a certain way in this country and that notion makes it reasonable for groups such as creationists to exist. To take a revered text, conveniently called the Bible, and make it the answer book for all of the world's questions is a simple, yet effective way to win people over. Creationists may think like the following:

If the Bible quotes this or that, then it must be the right answer. Why should we give any thought to snobby scientists or mean biology teachers when the truth can be found in the word of God? Anything that refutes or contradicts the word of God is evil, so why pay any attention to them? There are scientific proofs that support creation and intelligent design - EVOLUTION is nothing more than a THEORY, a weak one in that.

Creation science: a valid view or misconception? First of all, creation science derives its core beliefs from Genesis, the first book in the Old Testament. All other supporting evidence corresponds to Genesis, giving the "science" a relatively small boundary. Findings that cast a shadow of doubt on evolution are immediately taken in as convincing evidence, while all other observations and data that support evolution are ignored. Perhaps ignorance best describes the method to creation science. Creation science is more religious propaganda than science. It does not base its conclusions or hypotheses on investigations and experiments, but on the outdated text. Literal interpretation of the Bible is the blame for intolerance to other ideas - a major flaw for creationists.

Are creationists bad and unworthy people because they reject human progress after Biblical times? Hopefully not, but their activity sometimes retard advances in human knowledge. Take the Copernican theory for example. Nobody has seen the Earth actually orbit around the sun, but everyone knows for a fact that it does. Centuries ago, the theory was heretical. Galileo had to unwillingly deny the theory in order to save his life. Scientific observations and educated inferences allowed the theory to become fact and the same goes for evolution. It's true that nobody was present at the time of world creation, but based on molecular biology, the study of different species, and other scientific elements, it's reasonable to hypothesize and accept evolution as a fact. The theory of evolution has been built up enough and is regarded by the vast majority of scientists as a fact. What's holding back the rest of the world is uncertainty in human progress and fear that God may object.

The concept of evolution is not totally exclusive to this century. Greek thinkers many years before Biblical times conjectured evolution of living things, though not with as much complexity as today. Charles Darwin's theory captivated many in the 19th century and immediately enlisted the science world as supporters. The fundamentalist uprising in the United States during the Progressive Era (first few decades of 20th century) led to confrontations between evolution and creationism, notably in the Scopes Monkey Trial, a turning point in evolution becoming standard teaching material in public schools. It's safe to think that the country's top colleges will pick evolution over creationism any day for evolution pertains to the field of science while creation science is pseudo-science and completely religious.

Fighting over which explanation for the origin of species and the existence of mankind shouldn't cloud minds and create battle lines. Like the concept that the earth is not the center of the universe, fundamentalists must realize that fighting against what has already been proven true shouldn't be made heretical just because it contradicts the Bible. The Bible is an old text and there is no doubt that parts of it are outdated. The moral messages are timeless, but details and elaborations by men of the past shouldn't dictate the way we think now. Times change and so do our understanding of the world. Only about five centuries ago, Europeans believed that the Earth was flat. Today, some still linger on the idea that Adam and Eve were our ancestors. How does that explain at all the different races and cultures - was it by "intelligent design?" If anything, we evolved from primates. No, we did not evolve from the apes and monkeys we see climbing trees today, but close relative species, that gradually adapted to the environment and evolved into Homo sapiens. Those who did not evolve perished while those who changed survived.

The seemingly endless argument between evolution and creation science will probably continue for many more years. Evolution has claimed most parts of the intellectual world as well as the caring population, but strong movement by creationists have led to controversy in legislation and school curriculums (Kansas). If a lesson is to be learned from this century-long debate, it will probably be that the stubbornness of fundamentalism in religion, notably Christianity, has once again tinkered with the minds of the masses and slowed down the efforts of mankind. By battling science and resorting to the Inquisition-style of zero tolerance and finger pointing, fundamentalists miss out on the real point of religion, which is to give spiritual meaning to life and teach noble ways to live. The Bible can be many things - a book of morals, a history of Jews/Christians, or literature, but one thing it fails to be is a science book. Religion cannot provide answers that science can and science does not offer the virtues that religion may preach. This is the primary reason why creation science is no science at all. Harsh words may be exchanged from both sides, but one side will soon come to see that this is no battle at all - just another product of fundamentalist misconception.

Evolution is a fact and once the thought registers in everyone's mind, like the idea of the spherical earth, that will be just one less topic of debate between science and religion - a feud that should never have started at all.