Story Background

Science and religion has been exclusive to each other. Scientific principles and scientific discoveries leave no room for religion, the principle of which is usually non-scientific, or even anti-scientific. Copernicus, for example, was well aware of the consequences of his revolutionary heliocentric theory, preferred to publish his works posthumously. Even as recently as as 1925, science and religion was not reconciled to each other. In the world-famous monkey trial, an American biology teacher was accused of teaching evolutionary theory in a public school in the state of Tennessee.

 

The most recent example is the debate between intelligent design (ID) and evolution theory. It was maintained in ID theory that the world we live in is so complicated and its working mechanism is so intricate that it cannot be adequately explained by Darwin‘s Evolution Theory. It is further assumed by ID, which was initially proposed by a group of scientists, the world and human life is guided by the hand of a designer. This theory gained such a popularity that the school board of Dover County, Pennsyvalnia, decided that ID should be taught in the science classroom in the schools of the country alongside with evolution theory. President Bush also gave support to this decision, saying that teaching ID in schools give the students a chance to compare these two theories. Meanwhile, propsals hostile to evolution are being considered in more than twenty states, like new York State and Kansas. However, the decision was challenged by some parents who sought legal support to overthrow the board‘s decision. In January, the court ruled against the school boards‘ decision.