LETTERS: EVOLUTION IS NO THREAT TO CREATIONISM

To the editor:

Tuesday's editorial page showed quite a range of views about the Kansas evolution flap. Craig Brelsford's excellent column from the Hickory (N.C.) Daily Record was a refreshing change from the usual simplistic conflict between creation and evolution. He very ably made it clear that evolution is not a threat to the meaning of our existence. As he points out, no scientist or science teacher should make the mistake of claiming that evolutionary biology means that God did not create the universe or that our lives are meaningless. These are religious or philosophical claims that lie outside the realm of science entirely.

On the other hand, the Missourian's own editorial was disappointing. To say that "the available facts don't support" evolutionary theory is to ignore a vast array of evidence. To claim that "the fact that it is still a theory" as an argument against evolution shows a basic misunderstanding of the nature of science.

No scientific theory can be proven with absolute certainty. It is a theory that all matter is made of atoms. Seen one lately? It can't be proven, though it is a theory that is supported by a huge amount of evidence. It's a theory that Pluto goes around the sun. Not only have few of us ever seen Pluto at all, it hasn't even gone one-third of the way around the sun since it was discovered. Every major idea in science is a theory and could conceivably turn out to be wrong. Part of the nature of science is that all its ideas are tentative. We use them, even rely on them when there is lots of evidence supporting them. But, strictly speaking, they always remain theories.

Evolution is the central theory of biology. It is supported by evidence from every aspect of biology, from fossils to anatomy to comparison of organisms' DNA. To leave it out of state science education standards, as Kansas has done, is no less an omission than leaving out atomic theory or gravitation.

ALLEN GATHMANBiology DepartmentSoutheast Missouri State University

Cape Girardeau