Bringing up faith in class raises questions

I was discussing with my wife your March 31 Column One article (“Testing Darwin’s Teachers”) about beleaguered biology teachers trying to teach evolution, and her succinct comment was “what’s the difference between this sort of Christian and the fundamentalist Muslims?” I thought that question brought a good perspective to the issue. If we decide to turn every public school into the Western equivalent of a religious madrasa, we will all lose. If some decide they want their kids to have an exclusively faith-based education, there are plenty of private Christian schools in which to enroll those children.

Western civilization is supposed to be based on free and rational thought. Closed-minded fundamentalism of any sort, whether denying empirical scientific evidence or blowing up abortion clinics, seems more akin to the ancient, mindless ways of the Middle East than the civilization that brought you Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and the Enlightenment.

DIRIK LOLKUS

Fountain Valley

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Regarding the article on high school students questioning evolution in their biology classes: Questioning authority is great, but why is it “God versus evolution”? What’s wrong with believing in evolution and still believing in God? What’s wrong with the idea that God created evolution as an extremely long process in which life forms change over time and positive changes, relative to the environment, increase the chances that a life form will pass on its genes to the next generations. Something tells me God’s not in a hurry.

STEVE PASKAY

Marina del Rey

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The creationists who supply children with talking points with which to disrupt classes on evolution would undoubtedly protest vehemently if a scientist interrupted a sermon to declare that there existed no scientific evidence for a deity. We deplore Islamic fundamentalism, but we seem to agree with those fundamentalists that faith is allowed to challenge knowledge, but not conversely.

JIM STEIN

Redondo Beach