To the editor:

I was appalled to read Katie Marten’s recent letter to the editor in the Journal-World claiming the U.S. Constitution forbids teaching creationism or intelligent design in the classroom because they are religious concepts.

She quotes from the Constitution: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” as referring to separation of church and state.

It amazes me to imagine the mental gymnastics one must go through to twist these words around to mean “separation of church and state.” They mean no such thing. This sentence provides for freedom of religion. It was inserted into our Constitution to prevent the sort of religious persecutions observed in Europe, not to forbid prayer in the classroom or any such thing. Anyone who sees “separation of church and state” in the Constitution is simply inserting what they wish were there.

In regard to the evolution controversy, many of those trying to defend the principal of evolution have gone astray by referring to “separation of church and state.” Religious doctrines should not be excluded from a science classroom as long as they have solid scientific evidence to support them. In the case of creationism and intelligent design, there is none.

The one reason for not teaching creationism or intelligent design in the science classroom is, they are not science.

Dianne Hofmann,

Lawrence