To the editor:

The letter by Justin Smitley on Sept. 23, regarding the teaching of evolution is nothing but a bunch of backward thinking. He writes: “They will attempt to thwart any effort at the theory of intelligent design,” and then later he writes: “It seems to me like scientists are protecting their belief system.” Science is not a belief system; religion is. Science is founded on theories. It also follows that Darwin’s theory is a theory, and that in itself is the criticism he has proposed. If there were no criticism about it, then he would be complaining about Darwin’s law.

How much sense would it make to put a religious belief such as intelligent design in a science book anyway? That would be like replacing the book of Genesis with Darwin’s theory. If anyone thinks it’s that important to learn about I.D., then start dragging your kids to church or just tell them about it yourself. Then we can end this pointless debate once and for all and focus on more important things. There’s still a war going on, people!

Matt Kuhlman,

Lawrence