To the editor:

Let’s look objectively at this issue of evolution versus intelligent design. No one was there “at the beginning” to observe how this Earth (and life) began. I was taught that theory is that which can’t be proven by observation. Common factors in theories are: the person that started it, artifacts that support it and a following of people that believe it.

Coupled with evidence supporting theories is criticism of the evidence. For instance, critics of intelligent design say that evidence is unreliable. Critics of evolution say that there are “missing links” in the fossil record and that the carbon-14 dating process may be inaccurate. Proponents of both sides are dogmatic that their theory is right and both are religious fundamental faiths.

Check out the definitions for religion, fundamentalism and faith from Webster’s. Proponents of intelligent design have been called religious fundamentalists. However, according to the definitions in Webster’s, this term also applies to evolutionists. Truly everyone has faith or trust in something. The question is, what is the object of their faith?

There are three options regarding this messy, emotionally charged political issue facing the Kansas Board of Education. One: Teach neither, citing that both are religions and can’t be taught due to separation of church and state. Two: Teach both in class, side by side, in a unit called “Various Theories of Origins: Evidences and Criticisms.” Or, three: Let individual schools choose what to teach, and let individuals decide where to send their children.

Patrick Dority,

Eudora