‘Intelligent design’ ruling was a smart move

Re “Judge Says ‘Intelligent Design’ Is Not Science,” Dec. 21

U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III correctly ruled that “intelligent design” is a theological argument, not science. In his ruling, he stated that the proponents of intelligent design falsely assume that evolutionary theory is antithetical to a belief in the existence of a supreme being and to religion in general. The judge wrote that the design arguments “may be true, a proposition on which this court takes no position” -- but they are “not science.” To look at the wonders and complexity of the universe, be it a starry night or its workings calibrated in such a way so as to allow for its continued operation, and be told it came out of nothing is no explanation. But the question of why there is something, and not nothing, is one that natural science, which is not competent beyond the horizon of experience, cannot answer and, therefore, it should not be the subject of a biology class.

JOHN F. HAGGERTY

Woodland Hills

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I disagree strongly with Judge Jones’ conclusion that intelligent design should not be taught in America’s schools. On the contrary, it should be part of every science curriculum teaching rationality and critical thinking to young minds. Intelligent design serves as a perfect modern example of how arrogant and ignorant superstitious religious beliefs will always tend to drag society back toward the Dark Ages, and if permitted to do so, another Dark Age will envelop us.

Good education demands that students understand that religious subterfuges such as the recent attempts to treat intelligent design as legitimate science will always be present to undermine and drag down society, and that such stupidity and ignorance should be forcefully repudiated through education and continuing vigilance against religious extremism.

KARL SIMANONOK

Long Beach

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Reading the Dec. 21 article on the “breathtaking inanity” of a public school board’s endorsement of the theory of intelligent design, I was momentarily stunned by the sentence: “In Kansas, the state Board of Education has changed the definition of science to permit supernatural explanations.” But it all made sense when I remembered the tornado there that sent that farm girl and her dog off to see a wizard.

JOHN HAGELSTON

Thousand Oaks