Andrew D. Miall's central issue appears to be based on recent, highly-publicized mania here in the United States involving education, evolution and "... stifling oversight of the religious evangelist." Apparently, "... (oil states) which have benefited the most from the full expression of the earth-science enterprise, are the most backward when it comes to integrating the knowledge that arises from the earth sciences [evolution] into their daily lives."

Miall calls on our industry, Americans in particular, to take up this cause as our own before "... the conservative trends sweeping the U.S. increase the grip on teaching and research," thereby presumably throwing America back into the scientific Dark Ages.

How utterly absurd.

I suppose one can forgive Miall's perspective because of the pervasive liberal media warp typically applied to hot button issues such as evolution, religion and education, particularly when there is legal funding from liberal special interest groups, as is almost always the case. Welcome to America, Mr. Miall.

The recent Dover, Pa., school board case is typical. The Nov. 30, 2004, headline in the San Francisco Chronicle read "Anti-Evolution Teachings Gain Foothold in U.S. Schools - Evangelicals See Flaws inDarwinism." The school board voted late last year 6-3 to allow the so-called "Intelligent Design" version of evolution to be incorporated into the science curriculum, thereby threatening liberals who fear some creeping national "evangelical" agenda to teach religion in public schools. The media then proceeds to make a huge issue of it all, further distorting reality.

"Intelligetn Design" is described on the Web as "a scientific disagreement with the claim of evolutionary theory that natural phenomena are not designed." Is this really such a big deal?

The relevant mainstream issue here has to do more generally with science versus religion. On March 9, 2005, Charles H. Townes, a 1964 Nobel laureate in physics and inventor of the laser, received the 2005 Templeton Prize for his study of the relationship between science and religion. A recent Op-Ed piece in The Wall Street Journal by Townes states "the most basic of sciences, which is physics, has been increasingly concentrating on problems which are pertinent to the interaction of our ideas in science and religion, such as the origins of the universe, cosmology, the nature of matter and of thephysical laws. This has recently focused attention on what a special universe is ours, and the strikingly special laws of science required for the existence of life. Why does such an improbable universe exist?"

Why, indeed.

Paleontologist Stephen J. Gould's Wonderful LIfe (1989) studies the initial explosion and diversity of life in Canada's Burgess Shale and the subsequent extinctions and the evolution of life. While an unintended consequenceof the author, one can not helpbut close the book, absolutely convinced of his Creator's hand in it all. In 1989, it didn't have to be called "Intelligent Design," or require a school board vote to teach, it was simply great science and a best seller.

Similar opportunities to recognize God's hand abound in other fields such as astronomy, biology and oceanography; one has only to look.

One has to wonder why there is such a divide between science and religion in the first place. Let's hope other leading scientists will seek to bridge this void, guided both by their scientific skills as well as their faith as we struggle to understand just how special and complex our universe really is.

The presumption that American scientific enlightenment is being crushed by "religoius evangelism" simply highlights how effective liberal media spin can be and the consequences of buying into it.

Douglas P. Heller
Malvern, Pa.