Letter to the Editor - Southern Style II

WOW. My home town folks are making me proud today. Another LTE in the TimesDaily. This one tackles UNintelligent design:

Stake of ignorance

To the editor:

In reference to the Oct. 28 TimesDaily, page 2B, article titled "Panel rejects textbook on evolution," referring to a meeting of the state textbook committee.

Many people still support the proposition that the Earth is flat because of a quote in a certain book. " … go to the four corners of the Earth …" Copernicus, (and Galileo) a long time ago, proposed that the Earth was round because all rational evidence supported this truth. He was severely persecuted for this and some of his converts were tied to a stake -- because they refused to stand still while burning!

A pope forgave him in 1993, when it finally dawned on the religious leaders that Copernicus was not guilty of heresy -- the Earth really is spherical. But we still have many Flat Earth Societies exerting influence in the modern world.

Many agree that the theory of evolution is the most important and influential finding of mankind. It opens new fields of knowledge for the benefit of all life on this small planet floating in the vastness of space. We Homo sapiens are finally developing an identity.

Darwin's theory of evolution is accepted by all scientific disciplines, and new evidence has not contradicted this basic theory. Biology, geology, astronomy, paleontology, psychiatry, archeology and all the other scientific disciplines agree. The recent discovery -- and beginning of understanding -- of DNA bears overwhelming evidence favoring evolution.

The how and why, as in all scientific theories, remain open to any and all new discoveries/research.

To give teachers leeway to teach creationism, a disclaimer has been inserted in the fore part of biology texts, denigrating Darwin's theory, labeling it "controversial." This begs the question: Who has a vested interest in today's status quo? Our students deserve a higher level of education and knowledge. We are in competition worldwide, and with often better educational systems.

Yet we, again, in Alabama deny our students an understanding (evolution/change) of the processes that have made us what we are and, more importantly, our possibility of becoming.

Mankind is often destroyed by ignorance. We need not remain tied to this stake.

Jimmy *****

Cherokee