Creationists teach Aussie schoolkids man, dinos walked together

Melbourne, Aug 1 (ANI): Fundamentalist Christians are hijacking Religious Instruction (RI) classes in Queensland, Australia, teaching primary school students that man and dinosaurs once walked the Earth together and that fossils prove it.

Children are being told that Noah collected dinos eggs and brought them to the Ark, and the huge reptiles did not eat Adam and Eve because they protected by a spell.

The RI program has now come under fire from critics, who are raising demands to scrap it.

Nearly 80 per cent of kids at state primary schools attend one half-hour instruction a week, open to any interested lay person to conduct.

Many of these instructors are from Pentecostal churches.

Three in 10 Australians believe dinosaurs and man did exist at the same time, new research reveals. The survey, by the Federation of Australian Scientific and Technological Societies (FASTS), shows a "worrying" lack of basic scientific principles.

"The results underscore the need for students to be exposed to science and mathematics through a well resourced education system, rather than learning about science through Jurassic Park," news.com.au quoted FASTS president Dr Cathy Foley, as saying.

A parent of a Year 5 student on the Sunshine Coast said his daughter was ostracised to the library after arguing with her scripture teacher about DNA.

He said: "The scripture teacher told the class that all people were descended from Adam and Eve.

"My daughter rightly pointed out, as I had been teaching her about DNA and science, that 'wouldn't they all be inbred'?

"But the teacher replied that DNA wasn't invented then."

After the parent complained, the girl spent the rest of the year's classes in the library. (ANI)