Saratoga News

Letters & Opinions

Speak Out

Inform students there is
no proof to origin of life

The exchanges in your columns about the teaching of science remind one of the challenges faced by Copernicus, Bruno and Galileo, who proposed planetary motion theories that the then-establishment condemned and restricted their ability to teach.

A statement, "A scientific dissent from Darwinism," signed by many hundreds of eminent scientists reads, in part: "We are skeptical of claims for the ability of random mutation and natural selection to account for the complexity of life. Careful examination of the evidence for Darwinian theory should be encouraged." See www.dissentfromdarwin.org.

I commend to anyone really interested the book Evolution: A Theory in Crisis by Michael Denton. A good one-liner for others is: "An honest man, armed with all the knowledge available to us now, could only state that in some sense, the origin of life appears at the moment to be almost a miracle, so many are the conditions which would have had to have been satisfied to get it going." (Francis Crick, Nobel prize for chemistry ref DNA, "Life itself," 1988). By the way, neither Crick nor Denton are Christian believers.

Of course, none of this is proof of any other theory (such as intelligent design), and it must be said that difficulties can be found with them also.

But for our students, it seems both intellectually honest and morally right to inform them that the origin of the world and life is a matter for which there is neither proof nor a scientific consensus. I cannot see any credible objection to this unless the establishment wishes to suppress ideas.

Hmm! Where has that happened before?

Peter Knight

Glasgow Drive

Dangerous situation
on Herriman Avenue

I have called the city offices off and on since February requesting bike lanes be properly marked on Herriman Avenue between Saratoga Avenue and Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road. The road was repaved earlier this year and after a few weeks the strips were put down, except nothing identified the bike lane on each side of the road. This is still the case and the response to my calls to the city offices has been, "We are working on it."

The west side is particularly narrow, about 3 feet plus, and that is where most of the kids walk to and from Redwood Middle School and Saratoga High School. It is particularly dangerous on the sharp curves around the bridge. On the broader east side of the road, I have often seen cars unknowingly use the bike lane as an additional automobile lane, and I have narrowly avoided being hit at least four times in that area while walking my dog. Please, do something before there is a serious accident involving one of our children.

Walter Shaw

Jerries Drive

Religious interpretations
have no place in schools

I must respond to Fay Knight's letter ("Teacher should present subjects without bias," May 15) referring to my letter of May 8, which was a response to Wesley Ferguson's earlier letter commenting on the "indoctrination" of students in our schools.

First, my use of "indoctrination" was in quotes, and referred to Mr. Ferguson's use of the term. Second, I generally agree with her points, including most of the final paragraph. But her final sentence, saying, "That would include presenting the unproven and ever-evolving theory of evolution (along with any other scientific postulations of origins) as theory, not fact." Apparently, she does not understand scientific methods--theories are based solely on discovered facts--while religion and religious theories are based primarily on faith.

Evolution has been a subject of study and discovery for more than 150 years, by thousands of geologists, paleontologists, paleobotanists, dendrologists and zoologists. There is no longer any question about the validity of evolution as a process--the discovery and dating of fossils have given a firm basis for evolution theory. Religious interpretations ("creationism," "Intelligent Design") as to cause of evolution can be left to the home or church if parents are so inclined, but have no place in the schools.

Robert E. Wallace

Foothill Lane

Theory of evolution is
universally accepted

I have news for Fay Knight ("Teachers should present subjects without bias," letters, May 15). The theory of evolution is universally accepted by science and legitimate educational institutions. It is disputed only by con artists and their dupes who cling to childlike, denial-ridden beliefs in totally unsupported religious claims, which the study of geology, biology, astronomy, physics and chemistry prove on a daily basis to be without substance.

William Lorton

Los Angeles