Now retired as a teacher, David Herbert jokes that he taught his first Grade 11 ancient history course at London's Banting secondary school in 1978 and never got past the first topic that fall term -- the origins of man.

Now, 26 years later and having written three books related to the topic, Herbert is still grappling with his subject. In a nutshell, Herbert says that his great quest is "to try to rescue the question of origins from the clutches of science and put it where it belongs -- in the realm of history and philosophy."

Herbert contends that the theory of evolution is not scientific but is, in fact, religious. "It's every bit as religious as creationism," Herbert insists, and that's why he nearly always refers to it as evolutionism.

As far as he's concerned, Thomas Aquinas postulated as much as can be known 800 years ago in the Summa Theologica, arguing: "That the world had a beginning, therefore is credible, but not scientifically demonstrable."

"Science deals with that which is testable and reproduceable," Herbert points out. "What really galls me is when you only have one of these philosophies being taught in our schools today and it's done under the supposed guise of science. As a teacher, I had a responsibility to develop the idea of critical thinking. When you come to any body of information, particularly when you're talking about origins, everyone comes with preconceived ideas. This is true of every controversial issue. Both philosophies should be taught, and they should both be taught as philosophies."

Herbert says one of the greatest compliments he ever received was when an atheist student came up to him during a break and said, "Sir, I believe wholeheartedly in the evolutionary point of view. But because of this class I now have a foundation for what I understand, and I also understand why the Christian students and Muslim students believe what they do. I can understand their perspective as well."

Herbert is an evangelical Christian and resents the one-sided promulgation of evolutionary thought as much as he would resent a teacher who used the classroom to proselytize. While we know that there had to be a point of beginning for the universe, we don't know enough to put forth one theory as science and dismiss the other as a myth.

Herbert sees the danger in this situation as long-term. "Once something becomes perpetuated, then pretty soon it becomes dogmatic and true and then no one bothers to question it anymore.

"Every person has a religious point of view and that will impact how they see everything. People think their religious views are over here and their scientific views are other there and there's no continuum. Well there's always a continuum. I see students being misled and indoctrinated under the guise of science, and that really bothers me.

"We're doing a disservice to the students and their parents. We're ramming religion down the throats of young people under the guise of science and no one's crying out, saying, 'You've got to stop this.' Well, I'll cry out."

On Tuesday, Herbert and some associates will make their third presentation to the Thames Valley District school board in as many years. This time they will present a document they've drawn up called Parental Empowerment and the Instruction of Origins.

"We've come to the point now where we feel that unless we take legal action, we're not going to make any headway," Herbert says. "The board has a responsibility to mandate that teachers understand the presuppositional approach to this issue."

What Herbert is after is already the policy at the Ontario Ministry of Education and at the Thames Valley board. Herbert has a letter from former Tory education minister Janet Ecker that spells all this out.

"Regarding the instruction of the topic of origins," Ecker wrote to Herbert, "whether done formally or informally, the ministry has stipulated that different points of view on such controversial issues as evolution and creationism should be discussed, where appropriate, in the classroom."

The policy is on the books and Herbert thinks it's long past time it was implemented.

Herman Goodden is a London freelance writer. His column appears in Monday's and [Friday's] Opinion pages.
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HWFAC friends, you may write to Dr. David Herbert at origins@sympatico.ca.
CCEO Origins website