Origin of the Specious

Hong Kong Online (http://hk-magazine.com/feature/origin-specious), June 19 2009

Have weak government teaching guidelines allowed God into science classrooms? Winnie Yeung gloves up and wades into the great battle of existence.

This year the world marked the 150th anniversary of the publication of “The Origin Of Species,” a work by British scientist Charles Darwin which transformed the world with its theories on evolution and natural selection. Today science classes around the world teach evolution as the explanation to the origin of life. This is also true in Hong Kong but it transpires that all these years, the government has left a controversial door open in its teaching guidelines for the science curriculum. In their “flexible” guidelines, the Education Bureau suggests teachers encourage students to “explore other explanations for evolution and the origins of life in addition to Darwin’s theory.” The “other explanations” clearly point to creationism (or intelligent design), an idea suggested by Christian teachings that an almighty God created all matters on earth in seven days. Because of this flexibility, dozens of Christian schools in Hong Kong, many subsidized by the government in the first place, are now teaching creationism in their science classes.

In light of this monumental year, some local scientists are now asking the government to tighten these guidelines to make sure religious teachings do not get mixed up with science (they even have a Facebook group supporting them: The Concern Group for Hong Kong Science Education). They are taking quick action because they hope to resolve these “flexible guidelines” before the start of the next school year.

But another group of scientists is trying to convince the government to keep the guidelines as they are. Leading this latter group of academics is Professor Stephen Tsui, who teaches molecular biology at the Chinese University, and is a local Christian speaker. His group, known as the “Group of 64” because of its size, previously wrote a letter to the Hong Kong Legislative Council (Legco), stating they believed the current curriculum guidelines should be kept because evolution is not enough to explain the origin of life. The group consists of scientists employed in local universities and secondary school teachers. He says, “As scientists, we embrace the solid evidence, as well as the explanatory power, of evolution theory. However, a theory that is true in one area does not immediately imply it can be applied to all aspects. For example, could the evolution theory be applied to explain the formation of macromolecules from small molecules?” One thing Tsui does insist on, is that they’re not suggesting the government introduce creationism in science classes. He emphasized that neither the words creationism nor intelligent design could be found in his group’s letter to Legco.

However, the flexibility did lead to Christian schools mixing religion and science in the same class. One 15-year-old student, who studies at a Christian school in Kowloon and wishes to remain anonymous, said he did remember a discussion taking place at science class regarding creationism. “I am not confused as I understand Darwin’s theory is supported by facts,” he said. “But some classmates are telling me we should buy the idea of ‘God creating the world’ as we study in a Christian school. That seems to me why my teacher suggested a discussion like this in the first place.”

Tsui suggested evolution would be enough in science class only if the curriculum covers topics that could be clearly explained by evolution, but not if it is used to explain the origin of life overall. When asked about the issue by the South China Morning Post earlier this year, an Education Bureau spokesperson said other explanations should be discussed because it could help point out the limitations of science—evolution in this case—to provide a complete answer. In other words, the government is suggesting evolution is not enough for science teachers to teach the origin of life in class.

But, of course, the debate about science’s constant struggle to explain all things in life should be saved for another day because the question at the heart of this issue is whether religious teachings should be introduced to science classes.

Notable scientist Paul Chu, also the vice-chancellor of the University of Science and Technology, agrees. Speaking at a public function earlier, he said there is no room for teaching creationism in science classes. “Even the United States is moving away from the teaching of intelligent design in biology lessons now,” he said. “There are many unknown things in this world. Should we teach them all?”

“Religion does not belong in the laboratory,” says Professor Sun Kwok, the dean of science faculty at the University of Hong Kong. Kwok is one of the four academics who earlier this year urged the government to change the curriculum to tighten the guidelines so creationism would be kept out of the science lessons. “Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution is an established scientific theory and is recognized throughout the world. Creationism can be taught in religion classes. But I don’t believe that religion has a place in a science classroom.”

Additional reporting by Tim Pritchard