let's send our kids to kansas

i just sent a letter to the editor of the new york times.

here it is:

Let’s send our kids to Kansas,

State Board Wants Evolution Challenged.

I have no children, nor do I live in Kansas. I am also an atheist. What does that make me?

Trick question. It doesn’t make me anything, except that I don’t subscribe to Christianity’s view of how I and the world I live in got to exist.

Kansas State Board wants to adopt new standards allowing challenges to the theory of evolution. Really? What is then the purpose and desired role of a State Board of Education? .When it comes to the theory of evolution, allowing competing “alternate” theories suggests equal footing. To my knowledge, as a non-scientist, I can find no other competent theory that has stood the test of time. Do the proponents of these alternate theories embrace or ignore the scientific method? This is an important question. Let’s see their models. Let’s read their papers. Exactly what criteria are they using in their challenge to one of sciences most exhaustively studied subjects? In other words, on what grounds do they insist that the existing current standards are failing the children of Kansas?

I feel for all the educated science teachers, but not half as much as I feel for the children of Kansas and other states that have adopted ‘new’ standards that adhere to the beliefs of just one single religion. Why not since they’re so intent on alternate theories then teach all religious views of how our universe came to be?

I call on all scientists and teachers, regardless of position and state, irrespective of personal beliefs, to join forces and unite, and declare publicly that allowing a state board to shoe-horn in teaching practices not based on science is just plain wrong. A full page advertisement in the New York Times and every other published daily newspaper would be an excellent place to start.

Sincerely,

M. A. Solomon

P.S. I know that you will not publish this letter in full due to its length. Please feel free to edit.