It’s a tradition at Concord University that once a year, all 1:00 p.m. Wednesday classes are cancelled so students can listen to a speaker. This year, Eugenie Scott, executive director of the National Center for Science Education, took the stage.
The non-profit organization works to defend the teaching of evolution in public schools. She said creation science is a fringe idea in the science community.
“They are being promoted to science but when they’ve been tested, and they have been tested, do they really help us understand nature? Well, no. They turn out to be a particular sectarian view that’s not shared by all religious people.”
She said evolution is one of the core ideas of science which has stood the test of time and is no longer debated in the science community.
She also covered the history of Darwin’s studies. She said evolution helped change how Western culture saw the world, from static and unchanging to one of changing and evolving both geologically as well as biologically.
She also mentioned publications of religious-based research, such as a book called, “I Love Jesus and I Accept Evolution.” She said a person could only be scientifically literate by understanding evolution.
It was standing-room only in the auditorium. Many students were present to get extra credit for class, while others found themselves on edge as they listened.
Student Samantha Pennington of Charleston thought the speech was informative, but was disappointed in the attitude of the speaker.
“I feel like she was impressing the thoughts of evolution more than creationism and I feel like she was making mockery out of the Bible and God,” Pennington said.
“I feel like God originated everything and then I do believe that things built off of what we created, but I don’t think that humans came from apes because I believe in Adam and Eve and all that stuff,” Pennington said.
Sarah Justus is a biology major at Concord. She’s also a Christian, and doesn’t have a problem believing in God and evolution.
“Some people may feel that there is conflict but I personally don’t. I think it has a lot to do with faith,” Justus said.
Scott says a person’s beliefs should be his or her own, but encourages students to know more about evolution.
“Science can’t tell you whether there is or is not a God; that’s something that you make up your own mind about. Maybe science might lead you one way or the other,” Scott said.