"The widespread acceptance of "creation science" is a symptom of a much larger problem ("Anti-evolution teaching gain foothold in U.S. schools," Nov. 30). Science, like democracy, depends on a willingness to understand the world and to question assumptions. The study of evolution has withstood generations of inquiry and challenge, while so-called creation science is based on assumptions that are untestable. Its proponents oppose, or even forbid, subjecting it to rigorous scrutiny.
Those who would teach creation science are asking students to reject the scientific method, the essence of scientific inquiry. They teach that the assertions of a religious text exclude the body of science based on centuries of observation and experiment. This is not science -- it's political ideology based on religious fundamentalism. Its spread shows how willing people are to deny proven facts and accept assertions that have no basis in the physical world.
When half the country accepts such fallacies -- for example, rejection of global warming evidence or the supposed connections between the Sept. 11 plotters and Iraq -- democracy is in trouble. We won't build a democratic society by teaching kids that understanding need not be based on analysis."
But then, another letter writer hit upon a point that has always bothered me about these people. The religionists always refer to God as infinite and say that he can do anything so one writer penned these thoughts regarding this matter...
"What a pathetically limited view of God it must take to see a contradiction between Darwin's theory and intelligent design. Can God not also design the rules of evolution and genetics, and let those rules play out in what we call time? Why do these chumps in the deep South persist with the Father-Christmas-in-the-sky-with puppet-strings image of creation? Why do atheists imagine that their disbelief is not God's will? "
Touche!
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