Our society strives to keep a healthy balance between education and religion, but it looks like that balance is at a tipping point. Although creationism has lost every major U.S. Federal Court battle during the past 40 years, a recent study published in “Science” found “a pervasive reluctance of teachers to forthrightly explain evolutionary biology.”

In the 2005 case of Kitzmiller v. Dover, citizens of Harrisburg, Pa., took legal action to allow religious ideas, such as creationism, to be taught in science classes. However, the jury saw things differently and sided with proponents of a strictly evolution-based science curriculum.

Through this and other legal precedents, we have started to see problems with integrating creationism into classrooms.

Some concerns include the difficulty of narrowing down the plethora of religions and their ideas in the classroom, the inability to prove or disprove creationism and the effects on other academic subjects of integrating religion with science.

Each religion has its own distinct system of beliefs. In order to adequately address creationism, either all religious beliefs would have to be taught, or teacher would have to individually choose which aspects of religion would be incorporated.

Allan Hook, a professor in St. Edward’s University’s School of Natural Sciences, said that he agrees creationism does not belong in public school classrooms.

“If we were to teach such beliefs, which beliefs would we teach?” Hook asked. It’s a good question

Creationism is part of a set of personal beliefs that cannot be proved or disproved through any scientific test. If creationism is integrated into high school science classes, that would entail treating God as a physical object that can be studied.

Many religions—particularly Christianity, the main lobby for creationism in schools—are founded on the principle that God is a transcendent being who cannot be defined in a certain form.

Hook isn’t alone. His colleague, Edward Shirley, a professor of religious studies at St. Edward’s, is also a strong proponent of excluding creationism from science classrooms.

“Creationism is one form of religion disguising itself as science,” Shirley said. “It is not good Christian theology, nor is it good science.”

Scientific hypotheses must have the ability to be disproved, but the existence of God cannot be proven through a series of tests or trials. The objective of science classes is not to help students learn about different types of faith but to expand pupils’ knowledge of facts that have been proven through the scientific method. Personal faith has no influence on chemical reactions or the laws of physics.

Each individual academic subject contains different material. If creationism is allowed into the classroom, it would open the door for more religious subjects in other classes; history and English courses could become the subjects of another debate. What if religious background information becomes mandatory? Are students going to spend less time on Thomas Jefferson and more time on the life of Jesus?

John Taylor Gabriel, a sophomore biology major, said that a religious belief, especially in the field of science, cannot be allowed because schools are meant for educating students on ideas that have been proven to be true, not the personal beliefs of the educator.

“It would be like suggesting that biblical parables be taught in a history class,” Gabriel said.

High schools are institutions in which teenagers attempt to find themselves. If creationism were to become part of the curriculum, science classes would be required to include religious views that could conflict with students’ personal and religious beliefs.

Allowing biblical teachings into high school could potentially add stress to the inner struggle that many students already experience every day. High school is stressful enough.

Additionally, teaching creationism would force educators to decide which religions and beliefs to focus on. That is a whole different debate – one that would likely lead to a school district having to endorse a set of religious principles to teach in schools as science.

God cannot be proven to exist through the Scientific Method. That clearly places religion and God outside of science. Both need to remain in their own realm. Creationism might be fine in the confines of a church, but it has no place high school science classes.