…Will you allow your children to watch the Discovery channel Dinosaur planet specials that accurately, if not theatrically, promote evolutionary science? How do you explain dinosaurs and evolutionary theory put into practice to your children as in these educational TV specials?
Why not? Not all Christians believe that Christianity and evolutionary theory are incompatible.
Yes, true!..at first I was going to title this “Fundamentalist Christian Parents” as there are some less moderate christian beliefs that promote genesis over evolution.
I was thinling this could be an open topic, as well, a communication between Christian as well as non-Christian parents. Set up some moral guidelines, and a dialogue between parents. …As a Christian parent will you allow…? I’m sure that beliefs figure prominently into how many raise their children. There is a transmission of beliefs, so to speak… what are your guidelines?
Heck, I’d encourage my children to learn about the ancient history of the world.
But not on the Discovery channel. That stuff has become dreck.
Certainly, and I’m a Christian who looks like she’ll be walking a mile through snow to get to church. On the other hand, it’s highly unlikely that I’ll become either a parent or a Christian who does not believe in evolution, so my opinion’s worth a lot less than two cents.
It’s an interesting question, and I’d be interested in reading opinions from Christians who don’t believe in evolution. I have some theories based on my own interactions with such people, but they’re strictly educated guesses. I also have a friend who’s a former Fundamentalist Christian and Young Earth Creationist, so I may ask him if he would have let his daughter watch that program. Since he and his wife are brilliant, curious people, I suspect their answer would be “Yes”, but I could be wrong.
CJ
Yes. Same way you do, only probably not as well. Although, they did learn about evolution right after they found out I lied about Santa and the stork, so they may not believe it. 
I was raised by parents who were very fundamentalist in their beliefs, but I read voraciously and I can only remember two times when Mom censored my reading (if you’re curious, she told me I wasn’t allowed to read ‘Mommie Dearest’ when I was about 10, and when I was 13 she said that, while she wouldn’t forbid it, she’d rather I waited to read ‘The Color Purple’ until I was older).
I was in a gifted class at school that did a whole interactive unit on the development of man, including us spending a few days pretending to be Neanderthals in a big paper-mache cave. My parents seriously debated, talked seriously with the teacher, then decided to let me participate on the grounds that these were ideas I would be inevitably exposed to, and if their ideas were right, then they would hold up to exposure to opposing views.
Looking back, I think this was remarkably cool of them.
Heck,I let my son watch The SImpsons and South Park!
I don’t have kids, but I love those evolutionary documentaries. I guess I’m what you’d call a theistic evolutionist. I believe that God pre-programmed the DNA of the critters He created to evolve and adapt to environmental changes.
I think Fund"ist ideas such as “young earth creationism” cross the line from religion to superstition.
(sorry about the punctuation the caps lock function on my keyboard has gone all wonky)
The largest Christian denomination, the Roman Catholic Church, has no problem with evolution and natural selection. They are routinely taught in Catholic high schools and colleges throughout the world.
What Soup_du_jour said - the reason for my disdain toward most recent documentaries is the the quality - there is a current trend towards presentation over content.
on who is doing the voiceover.
I think you should address your question specifically to Creationists, not Christians. While most Creationists probably identify themselves as Christians, the opposite is not true.
But I prefer the historical documentaries anyway. Especially those “Moment in Time” ones with James Woods.
Liam Neeson? Good.
Martin Sheen? Good.
That guy who does Frontline? Good.
Ben Kingsley? Bad.
Yes because I’m not a Christian parent.
I got a chance to ask that former Fundamentalist friend that question, and, as expected, his answer was pretty much, “Yes, of course!” It turns out he and his wife, who he met the day before he found Jesus and who was a big part of his Christian walk were also heavily into dinosaurs and part of their courtship included exchanging letters about the then-revolutionary notion of dinosaurs evolving into birds (this was back in the '70’s). Even when they were Young Earth Creationists, apparently their assumption was that dinosaurs didn’t survive the flood. Then again, please do not take their experience as typical of anything but them.
CJ
I might, for a simular reason stated by the above poster who’s parents figured that they’d be exposed to it sooner or later but, thankfully, we don’t watch TV in our house. HA!
Christian parent speaking, by the way.
Then why would you respond to an OP expressly addressed to Christian Parents?
We taught our kids at a very early age the difference between the questions addressed by science (the “how” questions), and those answered by religion (the “why” questions).
While I might not completely embrace evolution, I certainly would allow my son to watch the show if he wanted.
He’s seven…he has time to figure out his own beliefs about the world as he gets older. Right now he just thinks dinosaurs are cool and I’m fine with that.
And, yes, I’m a Christian parent and I’m pretty strict on what I allow him to watch.