To the editor:

I wonder how many people realized they were ostensibly reading a page out of an intelligent design training manual in a letter submitted by Hugh Wentz (Public Forum, June 3) in which he challenged findings of evolutionary biology. He asked readers to ponder this question: “Did you know that if you gathered together all of the chemicals necessary for any biological life form and mixed them up you would not end up with anything living? You would end up with a mixture of chemicals, but not life.”

Mr. Wentz presents a very misleading understanding of evolutionary sciences. His description of mixing together chemicals to see if life can be generated is far from being a replication of how living things actually came about according to evolutionary theory. He mentions nothing about the numerous accompanying complex variables and conditions that are necessary for the generation of any living organism.

Parents of school-age children should be forewarned. Pay close attention to what your children are being taught in school. If our State Board of Education introduces intelligent design (which belongs in religion classes) into science education standards, I hope you will be shocked when you hear them relate to you some version of the cleverly worded, but terribly conceptually flawed and absurd criticisms of evolutionary sciences that were written by Mr. Wentz.

Conflict between science and religion is not inevitable. There seems to be only a small number of folks who cannot accept the simple, but important, principle that religion must stay out of science just as science must stay out of religion.

Donald Moss,

Lawrence