THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 10, 1996 TAG: 9604100003
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 45 lines
Regarding Robyne De Pola's ``Teach all views of creation'' (letter, April 6): There is quite a difference between ``opposing opinions'' and fact or fiction. Being a student in the Virginia Beach public-schools system, I find it disturbing that people such as state Superintendent Bosher can make statements to the effect that creationism should be given equal weight in school. In scientific theory, we like to deal with things that can be proved and tested, not matters of faith and belief. Should we be teaching our children unfounded opinion or scientific fact?
As far as Ms. De Pola's attack on the Big Bang theory and the theory of evolution, granted, these theories do have aspects that are not yet complete. However, that does not give creationism more weight. The object of scientific inquiry is to investigate the holes and fill them in, not to make up unprovable, scientifically ignorant generalizations to explain what the uneducated feel is ``inexplicable.''
The scientific community has always been hampered by the interference of religious fanaticism. It was a mob of angry Christians that set fire to the Library of Alexandria and set science back thousands of years. As well, the scientific community has never held that the world was flat, as Ms. De Pola would like us to believe. The ancient Greeks knew that Earth was spherical (from events such as April's lunar eclipse) and had quite accurately calculated the circumference of Earth and assigned latitudes.
It was the church's propagation of unscientific opinions that had such men as Galileo held as heretics until absolved in the 20th century. Hopefully lessons have been learned. Religion has no right to interfere with and impose its beliefs on the scientific community. The schools must be allowed to distribute facts and knowledge unhampered by mere opinion. Being descended from a common ancestry such as apes does not make me feel as ``nothing more than a trained ape'' but rather as a proud owner of one of the greatest evolutionary developments in the world, the human brain.
DAVID J. LEICHTMAN
Virginia Beach, April 6, 1996 by CNB