Y2K didn’t kill us. God has apparently chosen for us to be here a bit longer. So, now we get to go through this presidential campaign. I hate to say it, as an American, a political science major and a Catholic, kind of disappointed. Armageddon would have to have been more fun than this.

There are a lot of things that are concerning me as we enter this time of mud-slinging and brown-nosing, but nothing kills me more than this renewed interest in the education indoctrination of creationism.

Let me spell something out. I am a Catholic, and I believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God. I believe in God, and in the Son, Jesus Christ.

I believe that Genesis has religious and historical value. But you would have to torture me or give me a frontal lobotomy before I would ever agree that we ought to teach the seven day theory in our public schools.

As far as I am able to ascertain, evolution is taught in science classes. I am also assuming that evolution has been proposed by women and men of science.

So, why would we want to teach something else in science class? As far as I can tell, if we mixed literal biblical interpretation and science, we would have a much greater religiously damaging challenge on our hands.

But my greatest concern here is this: Gary Bauer, a Republican candidate for president, is proposing that we begin to integrate creationism into the nation’s school. This is suddenly a national issue.

Yes, I was very concerned when my home state of Kansas decided that it would reopen the issue and discuss “alternatives to evolution” in schools, and I was disgusted when the nation’s media made it a big deal.

But now I am appalled when candidates who are running for our highest office are leading a charge to force controversial Christian beliefs into the nation’s schools.

A good part of my Jesuit education doesn’t even teach that God created the world in seven days.

We did spend a good amount of time on the creation stories of the Bible, but never were they taught as truths. And I am a Christian.

Christian parents are demanding that information that might conflict with their religious beliefs be taken out of their children’s classrooms.

But may I ask them, what have the children of religious minorities been doing in our schools for the whole history of American public education? They were teaching their own children their own beliefs.

They were explaining conflicts for what they were: theories.

They faced up to the fact that there are many people who didn’t agree with them, and strengthened the pride and faith of their children through that diversity.

But now that the majority religion has found a conflict in the schools of our nation which has separated church and state, we must squash such opposition. As far as I am concerned, let?s leave religion to the believers.

If I want to teach my children what I believe, then let me do it.

And if science proposes a different theory, then let science class give our kids that information.

As they grow up they can make their own decisions. That is the point of education, not to manipulate education in order to promote one kind of thinking, but to provide as much information as possible in order to truly educate and promote thinking.

If Christianity doesn’t think it can stand against its opposition then it has much bigger problems than monkeys.

And if our presidential candidates waste debate time discussing this topic, than the majority of minorities that exists in this country ought to send a message, that we are not willing to debate the indoctrination of one religions beliefs to affect our children’s education.