Carol Raney, origins educator at Southern Adventist University, has spent the past several months traveling across the Southern Union to meet with teachers, telling them about the free online resources created and made available by her Origins Institute team. The digital materials help both professionals and laypeople alike more easily share information about creation and evolution that is factual, honest with the data, and biblically sound.

Southern’s longstanding passion for creation science was recently funneled into a specific three-phase project funded by grants from the Faith and Science Council and private donations: hire professors with origins expertise, open a museum-quality Origins Exhibit in Hickman Science Center on campus, and create the Origins Institute to package this wealth of knowledge into a user-friendly format.

The first two stages have been complete for several years, thanks to efforts from the Origins Institute, an interdisciplinary team of science, religion, business, and administrative leaders which includes Raney, Lee Spencer, PhD, Lucinda Hill, MD, Keith Snyder, PhD, Greg King, PhD, Rob Montague, PhD, and Bob Young, PhD. The learning aids are now being made available as videos, articles, and PowerPoint files that cover the scientific process, geologic column, biology, and origins 101. They begin with basic terms and ideas, yet introduce more in depth topics as well.

Raney recently met with Carolina Conference educators on their in-service day. Brad Durby, principal of Eddlemon Adventist School in Spartanburg, South Carolina, was excited to learn about the availability of these tools to assist with sharing creation science in a fun, simple format that would hold a student’s attention.

“We are finding the problem isn’t that parents are staunch supporters of evolution,” Durby said. “What teachers are facing more and more is spiritual indifference instead. It is important for us to realize that one of the strengths of our school system is that we have an opportunity to permeate our curriculum with Bible-based values. Whether it’s science, history, English, or math, we need to find ways to illustrate that God has His hand in everything!”

According to Raney, additional materials are still in the works, including online game-like activities for kids that reinforce concepts learned in the videos. To request a church or school presentation from Raney, email craney@southern.edu.