Don’t let all those doubters get you...

Don’t let all those doubters get you down

I think the Kansas schools, along with the rest of the anti-Darwin

crowd, are missing the boat. By obsessing on Darwin’s theories alone,

they are abandoning younger students whose beliefs are being trod on

in the early years.

I get very discouraged when I hear my 10-year-old daughter talk

about being teased by her classmates for her beliefs. I tell her that

faith is believing in something when reason tells you not to and

don’t let all the doubters get you down. But she gets no support from

her teachers or the curriculum they teach, and I see the strength of

her convictions weakening.

It really is difficult for a concerned parent to see this

happening in the schools of today. Where are these faith-based

teachers when my daughter and millions of other young students need

their help?

Off worrying about Darwin in the high schools. Meanwhile, millions

of youngsters -- like my daughter -- are having their belief in

Santa, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny undermined little by

little, as they grow older. I guess it’s all part of growing up, but

it makes me sad to see it happening to my daughter.

MIKE STEINER

Costa Mesa

Truth and censorship

two important issues

I found the discussion in Parents Talk Back today very

interesting. I have two issues with Wendy Leece. Truth and

censorship.

The first issue is truth. Why is it that people behind the

Intelligent Design argument insist on saying, as does Leece, that

Intelligent Design is secular, not religious. Baloney. The

Intelligent Design idea is supported, backed, endorsed and put forth

by Christian educators and purveyors.

That’s a fact that needs little research and anyone who has

followed the Intelligent Design debate knows it is true. So, let’s

just admit it.

I believe faith has a place in our society -- just not in the

science lab. Many great men and women -- scientists included --

believe in the existence of God and have a deep abiding faith in

him/her. Just last week, New York Times columnist David Brooks

recalled that Abraham Lincoln, when deciding whether or not to free

the slaves through the Emancipation Proclamation, had relied on his

belief in God, ultimately saying that God’s word and presence led him

to his final decision.

However, Leece has it all wrong when she damns the media and the

scientific community because they “mischaracterize” the Intelligent

Design movement. The truth is people behind the movement

mischaracterize it because it won’t pass the most basic scientific

muster. This red herring is interesting in itself when you think

about it. Why do the people behind this movement insist they are not

behind it because they are Christian? Hmm.

Why don’t the supporters just say evolution requires a “leap of

faith that I’m not comfortable with.”

Just don’t make me laugh by saying Intelligent Design is a secular

movement, because it’s not. The lady leading the charge in Kansas has

a giant cross on her property. (At least she doesn’t make any bones

about it.)

Secondly, I find it so very interesting that Leece, the person who

led the charge to pull several books out of our school libraries

based upon their content, is now deeply concerned about “denying our

students the right to information.” “Censorship!” she cries. She

should know.

It is the height of hypocrisy to now claim denial of certain

materials to students is going to limit their critical-thinking

skills.

This is the argument she should have made when she was on the

school board, trying to ban books.

What alternative scientific evidence is there? She alludes to Dr.

Miller’s famous experiment, in which he created amino acids out of

boiling water, hydrogen, water, methane and ammonia. This was a

laboratory experiment originally several years in the making. It was

science based upon controlled experimental results. This is no

alternative scientific evidence; this is factual stuff.

I dare anyone to read articles on Miller’s experiment and not fall

into a deep sleep. It’s not fiction, not exciting, but it is science.

It’s not just a theory of spontaneous combustion as Leece would have

us believe -- poof and it’s there. Miller’s experiment belongs in a

science class. It’s supported by verifiable data and as been

duplicated many times over.

Intelligent Design, if it belongs in schools, belongs in a

philosophy class. There it can undergo and perhaps “withstand open

examination by our students” that Leece worries so much about.

MIKE DUNN

Costa Mesa