Into a den of lions

Like Christians who faced Roman lions for their faith and were eaten, Kris Helphinstine, the (almost) Sisters High School biology teacher, apparently walked into the lion's den as well - but in the wrong place at the wrong time.

It is one thing to stand on the street corner or go house-to-house preaching your faith. It is another situation entirely attempting to use the public school system to do it, when the laws of the land - even though our national motto is "In God We Trust" - clearly prohibit it.

Christians who faced the lions knew in their heart they couldn't win the battle, but they were content to go down knowing they would eventually win the war. Perhaps Kris - who denied "teaching religion" in his classroom - is also content to be a martyr.

Unfortunately, the business of creationism/Intelligent Design (ID) versus evolution is so polarized that both arenas think they are so right they will pull any shenanigans they can get away with to win the war. However, right in the middle of the adult argument (which sometimes reaches "entertainment" status) are millions of young minds.

Educational institutions - unless they profess to practice this or that tradition or religion - should stay in the middle of the road teaching people to think, encouraging students to follow their own beliefs and make choices of what he or she believes based on what they learn.

I am an educator who passionately believes in and teaches conservation. I am also a practicing Christian. However, a few "Christians" may challenge that, for I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Like the Sunnis and other Muslims who do things differently, Christians also wage their own petty battles, as victims of the Inquisition and Crusades demonstrate.

Above all, I believe in my free agency. That is, my "right" to make up my own mind about the way I see my religion and the world around me. In doing so, I am prepared to reap or pay the consequences, whether I am "right" or "wrong." In that light, as a Christian and a naturalist and one who preaches conservation, I believe in the creative processes of evolution.

All one has to do is look at the livestock and pet industry and you see evolution in action. (In biological terminology, "evolution" is the change in the inherited characteristics or traits of a population of organisms.) We humans have taken the ancient "first canine" (no matter when and where it came from) and changed the animal so dramatically you can not find the early model.

God, in His infinite wisdom, did not create all breeds of dogs, cats, cows, horses, chickens, ducks, etc., etc. running around on this beautiful old Earth today. Yappers, pit bulls and fast horses are the product of evolutionary choices through human efforts in animal husbandry.

Based on scripture, I have my personal interpretation on how and when the earth was created by God. I also believe life, perhaps not as we know it today, was created by God. However, I also believe my dear old friend Robert Service was on track when he wrote:

The World's all right; serene I sit, And joy that I'm a part of it; And put my trust in Nature's plan, And try to aid her all I can; Content to pass. If in my place I've served the uplift of the Race. Truth! Beauty! Love! O Radiant Day - What ho! The World's all right, I say.

Kris Helphinstine must have known he couldn't get away with allegedly teaching (preaching, really) creationism and using ID literature in his classroom. His timing, however, couldn't have been worse; our school system is already under the gun for money paid (or should that be donated, as in tithing?) to a religious school for home schooling.