I’m going to make a case that raising scientifically literate children is, in fact, the way to raise tolerant children. Bear with me a while so I can legitimately make my points. Science is honest, unbiased and unabashed; it’s fact, evidence, and proof-based. Science teaches us everything we know, to date, about the existence we live, from our brains to the far reaches of the universe. Is science perfect? No. Science makes mistakes. But, when science does make a mistake, it immediately and collectively acknowledges it, tries to resolve the problem, and then moves forward. The science I’m going to be talking about today is one of the sub-fields of biology: evolution.

I know some theistic, god-fearing individuals will look at the word “evolution” and immediately pooh pooh it. This is not a positive; not a positive at all. Evolution is a scientific fact - whether you want to dismiss facts in order to prop up your way of life or religion is your own prerogative - but I stand staunchly opposed to this and do not recommend it to anyone. It’s a suspension of critical thinking and a restriction of human potential to deny fact, and this is detrimental to the upbringing of our children and for our future generations.

There is one human race, biology tells us this. Every creed, every culture, every skin tone, every texture of hair, every eye color, every height, every body shape is all a part of the same, exact human race. Every struggle, every death, every triumph, every empire, every slave, every king, every peasant, every servant, every prince, every president, every middle-class person, every poverty-stricken person, every lower-class person, every upper-class person, every war, every peace treaty: all amongst the same human race.

We all derive from the same place, Africa. Every last person on this planet can be genetically traced back to a tribe in Africa. These “racial” and cultural lines we draw between one another are false. They don’t exist. We’re all the same, born into this world and flying without a manual, trying out best to achieve our greatest goals and reach our highest heights. There is only one race. The boundaries between nations are invisible. We’re all one. We all struggle. None of us wants to fail, we all want to succeed. This is what our kids-all of them!- should know from an early age.

Can you imagine if children were taught that we all evolved from the same common ancestor, that we all originally migrated out of Africa, that all humans are genetically-identical, and that there is no difference, at all (except for minor outward appearance), between human beings at all? This would be the giant eraser held collectively by humanity that would almost instantly erase giant quantities of the world’s intolerance. We’d still have nationalism and religious quarreling, but I have to believe that such a leap forward in tolerance would also begin to erase these petty differences as well.

We’re all one.