Letter to the editor, Alameda Journal, September 29, 2000:

Teach Facts, Not Theory

The headline read, "California Gets ‘A’ in Evolution Education." California was recently awarded an A for teaching evolution, because evolution is introduced in the early grades, and later enshrined as the "centerpiece of the life sciences." It appears that California schools have abandoned genuine science, substituting the fairy tale of evolution, a theory unsubstantiated by any hard evidence whatsoever.

Evolution is not science, but religion. As a firm believer in the separation of church and state, I object to children being force-fed religious quackery. Regardless of how many scientists "believe" in it, and no matter how hard the educational establishment pushes it, the theory of evolution does not fit the facts.

Over the years, one exciting discovery after another has been trumpeted in bold headlines, only to be debunked after peer review. One recent example of this is the so-called archaeoraptor. Last fall, National Geographic’s headline screamed, "Feathers for T. Rex?" with a subheading "New birdlike fossils are missing links in dinosaur evolution" and 10 pages of coverage. Yet, when the latest hope for reviving the flagging evolution movement was debunked, NG’s correction was hidden in the fine print as a 10-line letter from a scientist, plus an eight-line editorial comment confirming the hoax. By now, the purely imaginary archaeoraptor is probably on its way into California’s science textbooks. What will they put in there next, the phoenix?

What should be taught in science class, the biblical book of Genesis? Hardly. Although the Genesis account is consistent with the scientific facts, the Bible is not a science book. We should teach theory as theory, and fact as fact. We should teach evolution in the schools, alongside competing theories, such as intelligent design. If we teach the evidence, and how to think about it, students will learn science. If we cram evolution down their throats, we are only proselytizing them with the religion of evolution.

--- Jim Hasak, Alameda, California