I am writing in response to the unintelligible "Unintelligent Design" written by Cate Doty. Here Cate attempts to plead the case against letting creationism or "intelligent design" back into the schools. One of her contentions is that it is not a "concrete" enough theory. Well excuse me but last time I checked they still hadn't worked out all the glitches in the "theory" of evolution either. Have they been able to find the missing link between Homo erectus and Homo sapien? What about that pesky little problem of how the universe came to be put into existence, was it a Big Bang or an exploding particle of dust somewhere in space. Yes, that is right, you were not misreading -- evolution is a theory, an educated guess. It is not a universal law or confirmed rule. Just as not one, as hard as they may try, as been able to disprove the existence of God. Am I wrong or isn't it the goal of a democratic, free-thinking society to discuss and debate conflicting theories instead of trying to squelch the less popular idea. Another contention of Ms. Doty is that the theory of "intelligent design" is religious and therefore should not be brought into the classroom because of the separation of church and state. The law of the separation of church and state was designed to protect those in the religious minority from being persecuted or intimidated by those who happen to be in the religious majority. It was intended to allow for children attending school to go there without fear of religious coercion or prejudice against them because they hold different beliefs. Instead what it has become is some liberal, nonreligious or atheistic people's war cry to keep any remnant of prayer, meditation and religion out of the schools. We can all congratulate ourselves now because it is no longer permitted in many schools for children to have a moment of silent meditation at the beginning of the day. Is it hurting anyone if little Sally says a prayer to God for her dying mother or asks God to heal the world? Fortunately Ms. Doty is very wrong. Schools do still teach religion. Because schools teach multiculturalism and how to life in a pluralistic society, teachers expose students to the humanities and history. As it was when I was in school, in many schools today students learn about the birth of Christianity, the holy wars, the Protestant escape from religious persecution, along with a survey of world religions: the origins and practices of Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, Catholicism. I hate to shatter the fantasy that religion is not taught in the schools. It seems as though many times the separation of church and state is only intended to apply to Protestant Christianity.
Cate makes the argument that "intelligent design" doesn't know who drew up the "blueprint for life," and I would like to direct her to Genesis chapter one. If this isn't a concrete enough plan or design for the creation of the universe then I don't know what is. I am not quite sure what the reference to "Jesus asked that the children come to him, right?" was referring to. I believe it is a gross misstatement of the numerous passages in the Bible in which God or Christ refer to great wisdom "coming from the mouths of babes." And in our society they'll be able to speak that great wisdom only if it is multicultural, pluralistic, politically correct and doesn't offend anyone hearing it. I am a biology major who believes in creationism. This is not to say that I do not think that humans and all other animals have been evolving since the beginning of time. Because we have. But I believe that God created us along with the rest of the universe. It is sad that many see my beliefs as illegal in our public school systems. Even sadder is that children are not allowed to think for themselves and decide for themselves what they believe.
Nikki Hemkes
Senior
Biology
The length rule was waived.
