To the editor:

In a recent article in the Journal-World, the chairman of the Kansas Board of Education was quoted as asking why scientists are afraid to show up and debate about the theory of evolution. This question again shows how thoroughly some members of the board misunderstand science and scientists.

Scientists show up every single day to defend the theory of evolution in laboratories, libraries and research institutions all across this nation and around the world. They show up in these places because that is where science is done. And, they don’t just defend evolutionary theory. They test it, they criticize it, and they improve it.

That is why scientists aren’t coming to the board hearings. Science isn’t done in kangaroo courts and monkey trials. Science is done in laboratories, and it is published in carefully evaluated scientific publications. The board’s hearings won’t contribute anything new to science.

If the board wants to challenge evolution, it should go to the laboratory and disprove the hundreds of thousands of scientific publications that support evolutionary theory. It should develop some scientific results that show how the tens of thousands of scientists who have contributed to evolutionary theory were wrong. That is how science is done.

But the “conservative” board members know they cannot do this. So, they will hold “hearings” to rehash a few scientifically invalid arguments supporting creationism. And, having failed to prove anything about science, they will declare victory. That is not how science is done, and that is why the scientists are not coming.

Joe Heppert,

Lawrence