To the editor:

Here’s a deal for all those wanting to inject religious doctrine (creationism, or “evolution by intelligent design”) into our public school science curricula: You may do so only if you allow classic evolution to be taught in your churches, Sunday schools, private and home schools.

How’s that sound? Ridiculous, of course! You would no more want the state to tell you what you should teach about your faith in your church or home than the rest of us want the church to tell us what to teach about science in our public school classrooms.

Creationism and “intelligent design” are not science; they are faith, and no amount of semantic juggling will make it otherwise. Presenting religious doctrine as science is both disingenuous and destructive to the quality of our public school education.

If you as parents don’t “believe” in evolution (despite all the scientific evidence), you can counsel your children to ignore those lessons or home school them, or how about this? Let them learn the best of everything from you, their churches and their public schools, assimilate all that information and make up their own minds!

Who knows? Maybe they will surprise you by finding a way (as millions of faithful people have) to accept scientific discovery, conventional wisdom and knowledge and have a strong religious faith at the same time! Whatever you choose to do, don’t ruin my child’s education by corrupting and degrading the science curriculum in our public schools.

Sharon Dewey,

Lawrence