> Apparently Stephen and Suzanne have forgotten that the classroom is no
> longer a one-way path of information.  The dialogue inspired by such "hotly
> debated" topics (I submit as evidence the Museum-L listserv) resulted in
> questions by students relating to the Bible and its claim that man has only
> existed for 6,000 years (more or less.)  The professor did not introduce the
> Bible as part of his lecture on evolution, and merely added his "two-cents
> worth" after being asked.

> Carol

Carol,

That the professor was merely responding to a *student's* question about
the Bible was not at all clear from your original post, Carol (see
original post pasted below).  Indeed, it sounded from your post like the
professor was expounding on his own religious beliefs.  There is a big
difference between answering someone's questions and bringing up personal
religious views *without* anyone asking about religious issues in a
science class.

 (I certainly think of the college classroom as a place for dialogue, by
the way.  My undergraduate and graduate studies in geology would hardly
have been as exciting as they have been otherwise.)

That *is* interesting that your professor was Muslim.  Did he also explain
the Koran's views of things?

--Suzanne

(the original post:)

"I took college biology from a creationist.  He handled his religious
beliefs very diplomatically.  He taught textbook evolution, and added the
mathematical improbability that life could have spontaneously generated
itself (something like 10 to the 27th power).  He suggested the
discrepancies between the timeline in the Bible and actual scientific
evidence are related to non-scientific time being kept or understood when
the Bible was written. Then he allowed us to decide or believe what we
wanted."

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