School talk secrecy helps create a storm
By Citizen letters
I wish to comment on your recent article, "debate about creation" (Citizen, April 6) in which it is stated the creationist John Mackay will visit a secondary school in this area.
Firstly, there is absolutely no debate within the mainstream scientific community over the soundness of the theory of evolution.
Although there may be disagreement about relatively minor details, the core principles are widely accepted and are confirmed by a massive amount of evidence stretching across many disciplines.
This is the message that we should be sending to our schoolchildren, not the pathetic nonsense preached by a fundamentalist from Australia.
Secondly, I am appalled by the deceitful rhetoric of John Mackay.
He seems to be deliberately creating the impression that he and other creationists are subject to victimisation, talking for example of abuse and vilification.
They are the ones going out of their way to impose their discredited and extreme views on other people's children and I am amazed that they feel they should be allowed to do so without criticism.
In a circular distributed by John Mackay's organisation, they speak of spending three days in a state school near Blackpool.
If this is allowed to happen then the children concerned will have their understanding of modern biology and geology seriously undermined.
Although the creationists are trying to keep the exact location of the school a secret, I would nevertheless urge all concerned parents to make their disapproval known at their school.
If these people are so sure that they can prove that the universe was created as described in the Bible, then they should present their arguments through the normal scientific channels of peer review, etc, rather than trying to force them onto schoolchildren.
Alan Bellis (13 Apr 06)