The purpose of this essay is to study the public debate on the subject of Creationism, the belief that there is a creator of all life on earth. The study is focused on Creationism in different forms in schools and the more general discussion of Creationism as an alternative to the theory of evolution. The overall question is what should be taught as the origin of life: Evolution or Creationism in various shapes and forms? The essay consists of an overview of previous research in both the USA and Sweden, and an analysis of argumentation on the issue in newspapers. A comparison is made between the USA and Sweden.The analysis of newspapers shows that there are some arguments for different forms of Creationism but there are considerably more arguments against Creationism.

In the curriculum from 2011 for Religion in Swedish Upper Secondary School, a new content has been added regarding the relationship between religion and science. The pupils are supposed to acquire a view of how the understanding of religion and science can express questions concerning Creationism and evolution. The purpose of this study is to identify how this relation between religion and science is represented in textbooks for the subjects of Religion and Biology and how pupils are encouraged to reflect on and discuss this relationship. The method of this essay consists of a qualitative content analysis of textbooks from both Religion and Biology. The result of this study showed an overall multifaceted picture of the relation between religion and science..

Det här arbetet är en undersökning om hur religion och vetenskap behandlas i biologiundervisningen inom de frivilliga skolformerna med inriktning mot gymnasiet. I undersökningen används kreationism och biologism som exempel på förhållandet mellan religion och vetenskap. Arbetet börjar med en litteraturstudie som förklarar vad kreationism och biologism är, samt vad skolans styrdokument säger om dessa begrepp i biologiundervisningen. I den andra delen redovisas en enkätundersökning om hur biologilärare från sju olika skolor i Östergötlands län ser på evolution, kreationism och biologism samt på kreationismens och biologismens roll i undervisningen. Kreationism är en antievolutionsteori som grundar sig på att en ?kapare? har skapat jorden och allt liv på den.