Date: September 18, 2003
Subject: Letters to the editor

The following letters to the editor appeared in the September 17 Star Tribune:

Only a theory

The Sept. 15 article about the new school standards for science, it was noted that it was OK to use words such as "may" and "might have" in connection with evolution. What's wrong with that? Last I heard, it was called the theory of evolution, not the facts of evolution.

If nobody is allowed to challenge a scientific theory or reexamine the evidence, doesn't it seem more like indoctrination?

Brad Parks, Watertown.

Talk about creationism

I read with dismay the Star Tribune Sept. 9 story, "State proposes academic benchmarks for social studies, science." The article stated that the science standards mention evolution several times, but Education Commissioner Cheri Pierson Yecke instructed science committee members to avoid debates about whether creationism ought to be taught alongside it.

Is freedom of speech still considered part of America's freedoms? What is she thinking?

The theory of evolution is not a fact. Maybe it is a religion. It takes as much faith to believe in evolution as it does to believe in creationism.

Marguerite Hoffman Richards, Coon Rapids.