Letters: Creationism in the classroom (original) (raw)

An organisation calling itself Truth in Science has recently used its (evidently large) financial resources to distribute DVDs promoting "intelligent design" to all schools (Report, December 7). The leading scientist behind Truth in Science is Andrew McIntosh, professor of thermodynamics at Leeds University. He has repeatedly said the world is only 6,000 years old. Given that all the scientific evidence points to approximately 4.6bn years as the true age of Earth, the scale of his error is remarkable.

Not surprisingly, therefore, the university has issued an official disclaimer: "Professor Andrew McIntosh's directorship of Truth in Science, and his promotion of that organisation's views, are unconnected to his teaching or research [here]... The university wishes to distance itself publicly from theories of creationism and so-called intelligent design, which cannot be verified by evidence."

However, the claim that McIntosh's eccentric view of reality is unconnected with his teaching or research as a professor of thermodynamics would appear to be cast into some doubt by a conversation that I recently had with him on BBC Belfast's Sunday Sequence. McIntosh publicly stated that evolution is incompatible with the second law of thermodynamics.

In the light of this clear connection between McIntosh's creationist views and his understanding of thermodynamics, Leeds University will presumably need to revise its press release.
Richard Dawkins
University of Oxford

Your report (Here endeth the lesson, December 13), cuts to the heart of the matter: intelligent design (ID) is creationism dressed up in a tux to sneak into our science classrooms. It is revealing that proponents of ID prefer to target schools instead of submitting their research to the scientific community for scrutiny by peer review.

Schools minister Jim Knight recently said: "The Truth in Science information pack is... not an appropriate resource to support the science curriculum." We urge the press, public and churches to maintain pressure on the government to sustain the integrity of science teaching.
Mike Brass
Chairman, British Centre for Science Education

If it helps settle fears when teaching evolution to say "yes, if you like, there could be something somewhere behind it", is that so wrong? Those who refuse to accept that ID could be used as a bridge to acceptance of proper science are, in effect, denying young people a way out of religious fundamentalism.
Matthew Huntbach
London

Were we to let ID into the classroom, science lessons should surely also include astrology, palmistry and tarot.
Mike Lim
Bolton