Evolutionary ‘Wind’

While Sunday night’s TV production of “Inherit the Wind” was not flattering to creationists, its stand against censorship was not missed by creation scientists, who observe with irony how the tables have turned 63 years after the Scopes trial. Howard Rosenberg and Bart Mills noted this as well (“Still Inheriting the Wind,” March 18).

It is now the teaching of creation that is banned in public schools. Censorship of the scientific evidence for creation is condoned by academia and the courts because creation allegedly promotes religious fundamentalism. Sophistry is as much alive today as it was in 1925. In the open forum of education, all evidence regarding origins must be presented to the student for evaluation.

Creation can--and should--be taught without mentioning the Bible. Creation textbooks have been written by eminently qualified scientists without referring to the Bible or any other religious book deemed sacred by creationists of non-Christian religions (Orthodox Judaism and Islam, for example).

Although a minority, there are thousands of scientists holding postgraduate degrees in science who are convinced that evidence of design in nature, paleontology, the laws of thermodynamics and other fields of science establish creation as a far superior model of origins.

Evolution is in retreat today as more scientists abandon it as scientifically not tenable. Witness the example of famous British astronomer and evolutionist Sir Fred Hoyle, who stated that the probability of the evolution of life is equal to the probability that “a tornado sweeping through a junkyard might assemble a Boeing 747 from the materials there.”

The evidence for creation continues to be suppressed. We are witnessing “Scopes-in-reverse,” the words chosen by Justices Scalia and Rehnquist in their brilliant dissent in the Supreme Court’s 1987 decision striking down the teaching of creation in Louisiana schools. For the sake of fairness and open-mindedness, creation should be taught in public schools.

MARK E. LOOY

Institute for Creation Research

Santee