Re: Believing in theory of evolution requires faith (Letters, April 13)
This letter is so ill-conceived and ludicrous that it just begs a response.
As someone who is trained in science at the University of Victoria, with courses in zoology, I have extensive knowledge in the area of evolution. I am also an Anglican Protestant, I have read the Bible and I believe in God. Science and religion are not mutually exclusive.
Evolution is not a theory, it is a fact. And the evidence is overwhelming. Just pick up any book on paleontology and the fossil evidence there proves that present humans are the result of millions of years of natural selection. Homologies exist between species to show common origins. Evolutionary processes can be induced and mimicked in labs. Evolution is indeed “measurable, observable, provable and repeatable.”
However, there is absolutely no evidence for spontaneous creation or intelligent design. There is nothing that can be measured and no proof of any such divine intervention. That is what I call “anti-science.” The statement that “science cannot speak to origins” makes no logical sense when the fossil data is there to prove the time and place of origins of many animals and humans.
The biggest threat to humankind is not global warming, war, or environmental disaster. It is the loss of rational thought and the rise in superstition and conjecture. The letter-writer represents a disturbing resurgence of people who want to turn back the clock. This return to the Dark Ages will be the demise of us all.
Maybe the writer would also like to suggest that Copernicus was wrong and that the planets really do revolve around the earth?
Doreen Marion Gee
Victoria