To the editor:

I am deeply troubled by the Kansas Board of Education’s recent actions that autocratically reject the definition of science as “the human activity of seeking natural explanations for what we observe in the world around us.” This action flies directly in the face of 350 years of scientific tradition. It would be wise for us to recall why the founders of modern science restricted their work to “natural explanations” in the first place.

Irreconcilable religious conflicts divided 17th century Europe; millions died as a result, most notably during the Thirty Years War. My direct ancestors, Robert and Thomas Cushman, fled to America on the Mayflower to escape this strife. The history of science tells us that the founders of the Royal Society of London for the Improving of Natural Knowledge consciously restricted themselves to naturalistic explanation because “civil differences and religious distractions” were “the first cause of our animosities, and the more they rubbed the rawer they will prove” (the quote comes from Thomas Sprat, Royal-Society of London, for the Improving of Natural Knowledge, 1667). If history teaches us anything on this issue, our animosities as citizens of the “Free State” are likely to become far worse as a result of these actions.

Gregory T. Cushman,

Lawrence