Creationism is religious and shouldn't be taught in schools

The argument

Most Western societies are secular and staunchly defend the separation of church and state; in the United States that separation is a constitutional matter rather than merely a convention. The principle it expresses is that the machinery of the state, including its schools, does not take sides on religious truth. Creationism is a religious account of origins, held on scriptural authority. Teaching it as part of the curriculum would therefore place the state behind one religious tradition's doctrine, which is precisely what the separation exists to prevent. The difficulty deepens in a multicultural society. If religious creation stories are admitted to the classroom at all, there is no principled ground for admitting only one of them. Creationists typically frame their demand as a request for balance — creationism taught alongside evolution so that pupils may weigh the two. But the same appeal to balance, applied consistently, licenses the creation narratives of every faith represented in the school, and there are many. Either the curriculum privileges one tradition arbitrarily, which is the establishment of religion by another name, or it accommodates all of them, which would crowd out the subject the lesson is supposed to teach while still leaving pupils no way to adjudicate between the accounts. Neither outcome is acceptable, and the asymmetry in the demand is itself revealing: those who ask for balanced treatment rarely propose that all creation stories receive it, which suggests the aim is the standing of one account rather than balance as such. The argument concludes that the position secular states already hold is the honest one. Religious accounts of origins belong to religious education, to families and to congregations; the science curriculum should teach the science. Creationism, being religious, should not be taught in schools.

Premises

Counter-arguments

Evolution also can not be proven. Where are the transitional fossils showing one species changing into another? Therefore, if evolution is a legitimate belief system, so is creationism. Issues around academic freedom, censorship, parental rights and majority rule mean creationism should be allowed to be taught.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] Creationism is a legitimate belief system. [Rejecting P2] As it is a legitimate belief system, it should be taught in schools.