Proposed Resolution #1 for the U.S. Congress and the Legislatures of the Several States:
The Creator, Science and Public Education
We recognize that according to the Declaration of Independence, the concept of unalienable rights is rooted in an appeal to the Creator. These rights, as also enfranchised in the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, are summed up in the concepts of life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness.
When Thomas Jefferson, and those with him, composed the words of the Declaration, they needed the moral authority to declare independence from the arbitrary rule of King George III. They needed to define those rights which are unalienable – rights which are above the power of arbitrary human government to define, to give or take.
Thus the appeal was made to the Creator who gives unalienable rights, and to which government is held accountable. The Creator referred to is the God of Genesis 1-2 in the Jewish and Christian Bible, and as appealed to by other religious traditions also.
Since these unalienable rights are crucial for the survival of our constitutional and democratic republic, the question of the Creator and the nature of the creation are equally crucial. Part of the nature of these unalienable rights is expressed in the First Amendment liberties of religion, speech, press, assembly and redress of grievances. The freedom of religion includes the freedom of non-religion to dissent from a biblical worldview within the boundaries of the rule of law. And the freedom to dissent from this dissent is also bound by the rule of law.
Thus, those who argue for a material origin of the universe apart from any concept of deity, and thus reject the Creator referred to in the Declaration, are free to do so. By the same token, those who argue for the Creator and a biblical view of creation are free to do so. And all positions in-between share the same freedom.
Accordingly, in matters of teaching science, religion and origins in the context of both public and private education, we affirm the following:
- Science and the scientific method celebrate the examination of all theories and facts on a given subject.
- A biblical worldview celebrates God’s gift of unalienable rights, and of science and the scientific method.
- Honest scientific inquiry which takes as a presupposition the Creator, concerning the origin and nature of the universe and human life, should have equal freedom in public education to have its theories presented, debated and critiqued.
- Honest scientific inquiry, which takes as a presupposition a material and/or godless origin of the universe and human life, should have equal access in private and religious education to have its theories presented, debated and critiqued. This is a matter of moral principle, consistent with having exercised the civil right to choose private education.
- Honest education always seeks to understand disparate viewpoints on their own terms.
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