Sweden Bans Creation
There was a time, even in Swedish history, that private religious schools had the right to teach the idea that the Universe was created and designed by an intelligent Being. That time has come and gone. The Education Act of 2008 in Sweden prohibits the teaching of creation alongside evolution in biology classrooms. Swedish Education Minister Dan Björklund said that the prohibition against teaching creation is to “protect” the pupils from “all forms of fundamentalism” (“Creationism to be…,” 2007). Björklund commented that all religious activities need not cease. Schools could still open with prayer, but all religious teaching or activities would have to be completely separated from class teaching. Björklund also remarked that the Swedish National Agency for Education would be doubling the number of inspections at schools and instituting other measures that would “make it easier to close schools that were breaking the rules” (2007).
Implications surrounding this course of action by Swedish officials reek of big-brother-type censorship and civil rights violations. Björklund claims to be protecting the nation’s students from “all forms of fundamentalism.” Yet, the teaching of organic evolution is a form of fundamentalism that surpasses some of the most radical religious beliefs. The Swedish officials have in essence established a closed system in which only the fundamentalist teaching of evolution is allowed, and no open-minded evaluation of the evidence is permitted. This type of fundamentalist promotion can only lead to an educational system steeped in mindless recycling of unproven ideas based on tenuous evidence that have never been forced to face sustained analyses of critical thinking. The Swedish government knows that evolution cannot stand on its own merits when placed beside the superior ideology of intelligent design. Thus, instead of allowing the two ideas to “duke it out,” allowing the best one to win, Sweden has chosen to throw its official weight behind the faltering theory of evolution and disqualify intelligent design so that it cannot even step into the ring. One might expect this to occur in the public school setting, although the implementation of such a program would severely retard the educational growth of the system. But when such occurs in the private school sector, it becomes increasingly clear that strong-arm tactics of intellectual and religious suppression are at play.
From various outlets in the United States, it is becoming increasingly clear that school officials in the upper echelons of our democratic Republic would love to see, enacted in our country, similar legal action banning creation. We must realize that the atheistic evolutionary agenda will not relent until it maintains control of all teaching outlets, including both public and private schools. Those dedicated to teaching and defending creation must speak out against such tyrannical manifestations of dictatorial power. If we do not speak out now, there may come a time when we cannot. The thoughts attributed to Martin Niemöller concerning the Nazi regime during World War II ake the point with force:
First they came for the Communists and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist. Then they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.
REFERENCES
“Creationism to be Banished from Swedish Schools” (2007), The Local, http://www.thelocal.se/8790/20071015/.
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