There is an appeal to creationism for certain people: it lies in the ability to submit to a myth without reflection, debate or real understanding. But the ultimate goal in promoting it as a point of legitimate pedagogical inquiry appears to be to coerce the obedience of a superstitious civic collective under a socially and politically regressive leadership.

And it’s being used in this election cycle to counter intellectual and academic freedom in educational institutions.

Mike Huckabee and Ben Carson have both expressed their support of creationism and denial of evolution, with Carson attributing the teachings of evolution to “the Adversary”, Satan. Carson has promised that, if he becomes president, he will make the US Department of Education withdraw federal funding from institutions that show “extreme political bias”.

Carson’s example of “extreme political bias”? A lone professor who asked students to write “Jesus” on a sheet of paper and stomp on it. Carson failed to add to his inflammatory account that the professor used the […]