The universe, and all contained therein, is only 6,011 years old.
The story of Adam and Eve is to be taken literally.
There were no seasons – nor even day and night – at the time of Noah’s Ark.
As for human beings, these are not descended from apes, or any other creature for that matter. Charles Darwin’s entire theory of evolution was in fact concocted, and all the related evidence fabricated, specifically as a ruse to discredit the existence of God.
These are but a few of the beliefs and tenets taught as part of the curriculum of at least one officially accredited school in Malta: the Accelerated Christian Academy in Mosta founded in 1987 by the Full Gospel Praise Centre – a Born Again Christian organisation affiliated with the Apostolic Church of Pentecost, Canada.
And that’s not all. According to the school’s headmaster Pastor Vincent Fenech, Malta’s accession to the European Union in 2003 was predicted by Holy Scripture. The catacombs of Rabat – officially dated to the first few centuries AD – were actually excavated by Born Again Christians in the late Middle Ages, to escape persecution by the Knights of St John… who, with the help of the Inquisition, suppressed and exterminated all non-Catholic denominations of Maltese Christians.
These and other curricular oddities are the daily bread of some 32 students, aged four to 18, who currently attend the ACA.
“We don’t teach evolution,” Fenech candidly informed this newspaper. “On the contrary, we inform our students that the theory of evolution is an attempt to discredit the Holy Bible by providing an alternative explanation for the origins of life.”
The school’s motto is simple: “Sola Scrittura” – only the Bible. Its website (www.fgpc.org.mt) also posts links to extreme Creationist organisations in the United States and elsewhere: among them, Dr Kent Hovind’s Creation Science Research institute, which offers a US$ 250,000 reward to anyone who can prove the veracity of Darwin’s theory.
But while such radical evangelism is held at an arm’s length by the local Catholic Church – which to date refuses to formally recognise the ACA or any of its teachings – the Department of Education has given the school its official seal of approval.
“Yes, the Accelerated Christian Academy is a licensed school with licence no. 97,” Education Director Cecilia M. Borg said in reply to MT’s questions earlier this week. “To date the Department is not aware that there are curricular principles which are not being observed in the school in question.”
Furthermore, the Education Department appears to share some of Pastor Fenech’s views on science: in particular, the unreliability of the empirical evidence in favour of Darwin’s theory of the origins of species.
“The policy of the Department with reference to the teaching of evolution is indicated in the biology syllabus and in the religion syllabus,” Ms Borg explains with reference to the National Minimum Curriculum. “In the case of the Form 3 biology syllabus, one of the learning outcomes is to understand that evolution provides a basis for classification. The evolutionary development of unicellular life forms into multi-cellular life forms is tackled.
“In the case of religion, the issue of evolution is tackled at Form 4 level. Evolution in the light of the Holy Bible is one of the areas focused on in the classroom. The theory of evolution is only accepted as a theory which has not yet found a conclusion. The accepted tenet is creation by God.”
Asked specifically whether the Department approves the more controversial aspects of ACA’s syllabus – such as the age of the universe, and the relevance of historic monuments such as the catacombs of St Paul and St Agatha – Dr Borg merely pointed out that “There is a difference between curriculum and syllabus. The National Curriculum provides ‘an educational vision’ but not a syllabus.”
It seems, therefore, that while evidence in support of Darwinism may not be conclusive, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that Malta’s educational system allows schools to teach their students that anything older than 4004 BC – including the dinosaurs, the fossil remains on display at Ghar Dalam, the geological layers of the Earth’s crust, the red sands of Ramla l-Hamra, and even the archaeological remains of certain Biblical cities such as Jericho – was artificially fabricated with the sole aim of discrediting the Word of God.
At least, no one can accuse our educational system of being intolerant…