Science education must be emphasized

In the past couple of weeks, a number of letters to the editor have been written criticizing the theory of evolution and supporting the idea that equal time should be given to the teaching of intelligent design in science classes. Around the same time these letters appeared, former U.S. Sen. Gary Hart wrote in The New York Times that three urgent directions should shape the next cycle of American leadership: redefinition of national security priorities, transition from a consumer to a producer economy and stewardship of the environment.

The content of the letters in The News Gazette, however, indicates that science education should be among these urgent priorities. Their authors, however well-intentioned and sincere they may be, consistently confuse science with religion and wrongly state that evolutionary theory espouses atheism.