A tale of two students

I went to Catholic schools for the first 12 years of my education. When I was in 7th grade, I did a science report on the evolution of man. My teacher said that was an OK topic, but warned me that I should be careful because it might have some problems with Church teaching. I was a precocious kid in the sciences, and by that age I already knew that the Catholic church (and most protestants) had no problem with evolution and I usually felt I knew more than my teachers in science, so I nodded and then proceeded to ignore her. I got an A on the paper but when she handed it back, again she said that some of it maybe is problematic, and I ignored her again.

I was unusual in knowing church teaching at that young age even though so many adults don't, and unusual in my confidence in my knowledge of science. Although science and religion are complicated issues that I have thought a lot about and I know there are many sources of conflict, evolution has never been one for me. It has simply never entered into my considerations about God and I have never seen a conflict involving it. But we must be careful to remember that not everyone has the same background.

I recently received an essay written by a student about her struggles with evolution and religion. She respects science and is also very religious. She describes how her heart sank when she first heard a professor say that evolution is central to biology on the first day of intro to biology. When she took my course in evolution, she struggled. She would be in class talking about the strength of evolution with her peers and then go to a Bible group where they would knock evolution. She wished she didn't have to think about it. She now fully accepts evolution. She is Catholic and takes comfort in the stand of her church, but she was unaware of that stance before and many of her religious peers do not feel the same way.

There are two points I would like to make about this. The first is frustration at the existence of this conflict. Most denominations have found peace with evolution, but for those that don't, or the individuals who don't, it creates a major conflict within people. It is not good to make people fear reality or wish it away. Some, like the writer, can find resolution, but for many the conflict leads to the rejection of either religion or reality. It need not be that way.

The second and main point is that when we discuss evolution, we should always remain sensitive to how people react to it. I did not have that conflict, but for many students, just the mention of evolution produces dissonance. They are not as interested in the evidence or logic of evolution as in resolving the dissonance. They won't hear the evidence unless we at least touch on the dissonance first. We absolutely must not hold back or diminish evolution because of this, but we should make an effort to let students know that it is not a dichotomy. It is not my goal to attack who you are or diminish your beliefs. It is possible that some adjustment is in order is all. It certainly does no good at all to attack religion or belittle those who believe.

I want to make it clear that I do not favor being nice to anti evolution arguments. I confront them directly in class and I make it clear the arguments against evolution are dishonest. For some, this will produce a conflict. But I do try to make it clear that I am attacking the arguments, not religion or God (which is how many people will take it if you aren't clear). The people who make these anti evolution arguments are giving only one interpretation of religion, and there are others. I do not advocate for any of them, just let them know they exist.

Reading the essay was a good reminder to me of the effect of my words on those who hear them. It is sometimes easy to forget that. The more we understand where students are coming from, the more we can actually teach them.