How can I write an assignment on evolution if I don't believe in evolution?

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Evolution assignments:
How to handle them if you are a creationist …

“I have to write a biology assignment that tells how evolution occurred. How can I honestly write on evolution when I don't believe it?”

This is a common question from Christian students who are not in a Christian school. But there is a simple way around it.

Write like a reporter

The common way of thinking is this:

“I can't write that evolution has occurred because that would be dishonest. I guess I will just have to say I don't agree with it because I believe in creation, and pray the Lord softens the heart of the teacher.”

Sometimes that way works; often it does not. The way that many Christian students have solved the problem honestly and successfully is to change the way they write, not what they believe.

Think like a reporter

How do they do this? They try to think like a reporter for a newspaper or television station.

In news stories, reporters simply report. They give the facts without putting their own opinions in the stories. (There are other styles of news writing in which journalists clearly do give their opinions. But news journalists and reporters train to write a basic news report giving only the facts and keeping their own opinions out of it.)

Let's first look at the way a reporter might write about something he or she doesn't agree with.

Say the reporter is against abortion because he knows that abortions kill children. But he has to write a story saying that a two-day doctors' conference aimed at legalizing abortion had hundreds of supporters. His report may start like this:

“A two-day doctors' conference aiming to legalize abortion is being held this weekend in Maysfield. Four hundred abortion supporters voted to legalize abortion by the end of this year. Protesters from local Right-to-Life groups picketed the site for the two days.”

Just give the facts

What that journalist did was simply report the facts without suggesting in any way whether he agreed or disagreed with abortion. You can do the same when you write your essay about evolution. Instead of saying “Humans evolved about one million years ago,” say something like “Drake and Duckland, in their book Human Evolution, say that humans evolved about one million years ago.”

You are then taking away your own opinion and shifting it to someone who believes it. (We invented that book by the way, so don't use it in your assignment!)

In the same way, instead of saying “Mammals evolved from reptiles, and reptiles evolved from amphibians,” you can say something like, “The common evolutionary belief is that mammals evolved from reptiles, and that reptiles evolved from amphibians.”

See the difference? Whenever you have to give an evolutionary opinion you don't agree with, just say where you got the idea from and shift the comment to evolutionists who believe it. This has worked for countless Christians in the past, and it can work for you.

What does the Bible say?

The Bible says Christians must be honest (2 Corinthians 13:7). Christ also told His disciples that they were to be as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves (Matthew 10:16). Being honest does not necessarily mean telling everyone everything that would stir up trouble. Wisdom comes from God (Ephesians 1:17), and we are to ask for it if we lack it (James 1:5). Pray for wisdom about the way you should go.

Being open sometimes works

We should point out that we have heard of students who have achieved high marks, and students who have flunked miserably, when they were open about being creationists.

Some teachers are honest enough to see value in students' work that says evolution is nonsense if the student gives solid facts to back up what he or she says. Other teachers don't think anyone should question evolution, and have given creationist students a hard time.

Pray, and then decide which way you think is best. But the idea of writing like a reporter is a good way to get your assignment done without saying you believe something that you don't!

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