This essay presents an individualist ethical and political perspective in opposition to the demands of some that Creationism or Intelligent Design be taught in the public schools.

Individualism holds that each human being has the sovereignty to decide on important scientific and ethical issues for himself, without imposition or coercion from anybody else. Thus, the individualist would argue that the majority must not under any circumstances be permitted to convey its religious views through the public schools. To the extent that they are justified in existing, the public schools must remain non-coercive institutions that reinforce, above all, the rights of an individual to challenge, dissent from, and even demolish with mounds of evidence, any and all accepted mindsets. The more deeply held and ingrained in the culture such mindsets are, as applies to convictions of a religious nature, the more urgent is the necessity for such freedom of thought.

A consistent individualist desires freedom of religious speech in the schools; students should be able to espouse views and theories with a religious basis, but they should give their intellectual opponents the same prerogative to disagree openly. Teachers should also be free to state their personal views so long as they do not impose them upon the class and allow ample room for debate and discussion.

Indeed, the legislation of morality by the state is the high road to tyranny. The functions of an ideal state are entirely negative: not to affect social change, but to punish the violators of individual rights, including criminals, foreign invaders, and corrupt bureaucrats. Any positive action in a society must be a voluntary prerogative performed either through the agency of an individual or a compact of individuals. Schools should therefore only teach those values (including or excluding religious values) that are unanimously agreed upon by all the adults who fund a given school. This is a scenario far from the status quo, but it must be noted that the schools' current state of imposing "basic morality" on the students is precisely a condition vulnerable for advocates of religious imposition to extend to its logical extreme and preach all majority beliefs, religious or not, within the public classrooms.

Any prohibition on a religious basis is also a violation of the separation between church and state. Communities like Dayton, Tennessee - the site of the famous 1925 Scopes trial -- did not seek to limit the teaching of evolution in the schools because of any scientific flaws or rationally disputable elements in the theory (though those certainly existed and still exist) but because of a fundamental incompatibility between a scientific theory and a Genesis account that was asked to be accepted on faith. This is clearly a religious motive and hence an intrusion of majority on the prerogative of a teacher to exercise his religious freedom and of the students to be exposed to non-religious modes of thought.

Ultimately, individualism desires both religious and scientific liberty in the schools, giving teachers and students the autonomy to discuss the subjects they see fit and to disagree if they wish. Thus, Creationism and Intelligent Design ought to be permitted as matters for voluntary discussion and debate, but not as impositions upon the entire student body.

G. Stolyarov II is a science fiction novelist, independent philosophical essayist, poet, amateur mathematician, composer, contributor to Enter Stage Right, Le Quebecois Libre,  Rebirth of Reason, and the Ludwig von Mises Institute, Senior Writer for The Liberal Institute, weekly columnist for GrasstopsUSA.com, and Editor-in-Chief of The Rational Argumentator, a magazine championing the principles of reason, rights, and progress. Mr. Stolyarov also publishes his articles on Helium.com and Associated Content to assist the spread of rational ideas. His newest science fiction novel is Eden against the Colossus. His latest non-fiction treatise is A Rational Cosmology. His most recent play is Implied Consent. Mr. Stolyarov can be contacted at gennadystolyarovii@yahoo.com.

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Learn about Mr. Stolyarov's novel, Eden against the Colossus, here..

Read Mr. Stolyarov's new comprehensive treatise, A Rational Cosmology, explicating such terms as the universe, matter, space, time, sound, light, life, consciousness, and volition, here.

Read Mr. Stolyarov's new four-act play, Implied Consent, a futuristic intellectual drama on the sanctity of human life, here.