Religious right trying to scuttle science standards

Religious right trying to scuttle science standards
EDITOR:
Who is behind the drive to force ID (Intelligent Design) to be taught as science in Ohio schools?
There is a great pressure on the Ohio Board of Education to change the science standards to include ID in the science curriculum of Ohio schools. An organization called Science Education for All Ohioians (SEAO) objects to evolution being taught without an alternative theory of creation. The group has been instrumental in pushing for passage of HB 484 which requires that science education standards pertaining to evolution be voted on by both houses and HB 481 requiring the teaching of diverse opinions about "origins science". The measures are designed to encourage presentation of anti-evolutionist material, namely ID (Intelligent Design).
Phillip Johnson, a law professor at the University of California at Berkeley, is one of the leaders of the movement, if not the chief architect. At a meeting of followers of D. James Kennedy, in an ungraded moment, he said that his ultimate goal in undermining evolution is to persuade people to accept the "truth" of the Bible and be "introduced to Jesus". ID is Creationism dressed in a tuxedo as someone put it. Who is the designer? Of course it must be God and the teacher now must try to test God if scientific method is valid.
Another prime mover of the movement is Robert Lattimer, a chemist and member of the BOE of Ohio. He is associated with the AFA (American Family Association) a religious-right organization. John Calbert, an attorney, is also active in Ohio for the ID program. He was a power behind the move in Kansas to get religious ideas taught in the Kansas school system. He was finally defeated there but only after a prolonged effort to unseat some members of the BOE of Kansas.
ID is not science. There are no scientific abstracts written for research on ID. It is strictly religious in nature. If ID ever becomes part of the science curriculum for Ohio students, teachers will have to study theology in order to explain the supernatural nature of ID. Remember, ID is not taught in most, if not all of our schools of higher learning. Students with a background of ID will have a terribly difficult time studying biology or anthropology, or medicine in any of our universities. Theodosius Dobzhansky (1973) writes, "Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution." Keep ID out of science standards for Ohio schools.
ROBERT E. HOPKINS
Hubbard
Caring citizens need help to keep up neighborhoods
EDITOR:
The reader who wrote the & quot;Obnoxious residents destroy neighborhoods & quot; letter was on the mark in describing the ridiculous behavior of people who are hell-bent on doing as they please and tormenting anyone who complains.
I have lived here for 27 years, and I still am appalled at how low some neighbors can go. I have seen the usual trash throwing, loud "music," and fighting that some people think the complainer "deserves." And of course, they have permission from the police to continue as they please. I too have heard from the police that there is nothing they can do."
Well, I want to know why. Why can't the people who sleep at night and work during the day have peace and quiet at night? Why do these same people have to come home to the neighbors' garbage thrown all over the street? Why, oh why, is it OK to burn down vacant or empty houses to prove some twisted point?
Is there anybody out there listening? Isn't there something that can be done without some private citizen being attacked for trying to clean up his or her neighborhood?
Neighborhood watches and cleanups are not the answer when the fear of retaliation is so strong. I know. A now-defunct neighborhood coalition tried but couldn't keep up with the trash or the purposeful destruction of every neighborly thing the coalition tried to do.
ROSALYN THOMPSON
Youngstown