NATURE|Vol 435|19 May 2005 CORRESPONDENCE When science meets religion in the classroom

SIR – In the Editorial “Dealing with design” such a reconciliation impossible because faith scientific challenges to their faith should seek (Nature434,1053; 2005), Natureclaims that and science are two mutually exclusive ways guidance from a theologian, not a scientist. scientists have not dealt effectively with the of looking at the world. For such scientists, Scientists should never have to apologize for threat to posed by Natureapparently prescribes hypocrisy. The teaching science. ‘’ (ID) . Rather real business of science teachers is to teach Jerry Coyne than ignoring, dismissing or attacking ID, science, not to help students shore up world- Department of and , University scientists should, the editors suggest, learn views that crumble when they learn science. of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA how religious people can come to terms And ID creationism is not science, despite Peter AtkinsLincoln College, University of Oxford with science, and teach these methods of the editors’ suggestion that ID “tries to use Colin BlakemoreMedical Research Council, London accommodation in the classroom. The goal scientific methods to find evidence of God in Richard DawkinsOxford University Museum, University of Oxford of science education should thus be “to point ”. Rather, advocates of ID pretend to use Steve JonesGalton Laboratories, University College London to options other than ID for reconciling scientific methods to support their religious Richard LewontinMuseum of Comparative Zoology, science and belief ”. In this way, students’ faith preconceptions. It has no more place in the John Maddox 9 Pitt Street, London W8 4NX will not be challenged by scientific truth, and biology classroom than geocentrism has in Paul NurseThe , New York evolution will triumph. the astronomy curriculum. Linda PartridgeDepartment of Biology, University College London This suggestion is misguided: the science Scientists are of course free (some would James D. WatsonCold Spring Harbor Laboratories, New York classroom is the wrong place to teach say duty-bound) to fight ID outside the Steven WeinbergDepartment of Physics, University of Texas, Austin students how to reconcile science and classroom, or to harmonize religion with Lewis WolpertDepartment of Anatomy and Developmental Biology, religion. For one thing, many scientists deem science. But students who cannot handle University College London

the scientific merits of evolutionist and ID should instead consider a mechanism by Teaching about ID helps claims — to the great disadvantage of ID. which intelligent designers — let’s call them students see its flaws Students who themselves determine that “Maxwell’s angels” — individually push on ID does not cut the scientific mustard will each molecule, while keeping in intelligent SIR – I have regularly taught seminars for be more effective in their support of teaching communication with each other to maintain university biology majors, which compare mainstream science. Students who remain this distribution. the scientific claims of evolution and ID. In creationists or fence-sitters will at least have a One reason that scientists famously fail doing so, I am not advocating the scientific better understanding of why ID has not been in rebutting ID is that we use the wrong merits of ID, as discussed in your News widely accepted in the scientific community. analogies. Evolution is not a blind watch- Feature “Who has designs on your students’ It may seem contradictory to offer a course maker or any other kind of engineer, but minds?” (Nature434,1062–1065; 2005). on ID and evolution in colleges and oppose rather a short-order cook, and — looking at I view these seminars as analogous to media teaching ID in high schools. But high-school the phenomenally complicated structures — literacy courses. To understand why 80% of students are just learning the basics of science. one who is less like Isaac Newton than Rube Fox News viewers had misperceptions about To expect them to make a well-reasoned Goldberg or W. Heath Robinson. Iraq, such as believing that weapons of mass judgement about the status of any scientific A terrific argument against ID came to destruction had been discovered there (see theory, including evolution, is unrealistic. me recently after two consecutive talks, one www.pipa.org), media students need to learn David Leaf on the Wnt signalling pathway, the next on how Fox News operates. Such a media Department of Biology, Western Washington G-protein crosstalk in control of cellular literacy course does not necessarily vouch for University, Bellingham, Washington 98225, USA calcium. Just look at the details, and you’ll the veracity of any particular Fox show. immediately abandon all thoughts that My interest in ID was sparked in 1999 by biological systems were designed with any a local high-school teacher who used ID intelligence whatsoever. materials in a biology course. Parents and Evolution is a short-order Chris Miller citizens successfully defended the teaching of cook, not a watchmaker HHMI, Department of Biochemistry, Brandeis mainstream science against proponents of University, Waltham, Massachusetts 02454, USA ID, in this case the Discovery Institute (see SIR – The visual shock of last week’s www.scienceormyth.org). This taught me ‘intelligent design’ cover was matched by the how effective pro-evolution groups are when perceptiveness of your News Feature (Nature they work with the school administration, 434,1062–1065; 2005) on the seepage of this Seeking evidence of God’s and are supported by faculty from local slyly religious ideology into science curricula. work undermines faith colleges and universities. But to be effective in This stuff should certainly be kept out of its support, the scientific community needs to high schools, but I am ambivalent about its SIR – Your Editorial about the promotion of understand the empirical claims of ID. presence in our universities, where free ID in schools and universities (Nature434, Although it seems to have been resurrected discussion is of greater value than correctness 1053; 2005) asks us to persuade our students for religious or cultural agendas, ID’s — political, scientific or otherwise. that science and faith do not compete, but proponents have made empirical claims that On the other hand, I’d be properly rebuked for Christians this should always have been can be examined. Many college students are and sanctioned for incompetence if I were clear. In the Bible (John 20: 25–29), Thomas curious about ID but have little knowledge to assert in my undergraduate physical- doubts that the man speaking to him is the of the claims made for it. In my experience, chemistry course that the intricate, precisely resurrected Christ until Jesus reveals his upper-level biology students with the exponential distribution of velocities wounds. Thomas then believes, but Jesus appropriate background in molecular observed in a collection of gas molecules says: “Blessed are those who have not seen biology, genetics, developmental biology is simply too perfect and beautiful to have and yet have believed”. and evolution are capable of distinguishing arisen from random collisions, but that we The Bible throughout teaches that faith is

275 © 2005Nature PublishingGroup CORRESPONDENCE NATURE|Vol 435|19 May 2005 more valuable when expressed in the absence “Building a straw man based on a mere theory. But after a century of close of evidence. For a Christian, when science is natural selection alone makes it scrutiny, evolutionary theory has passed so allowed to be neutral on the subject of God, many litmus tests of validation that evolution science can only bolster faith. In contrast, and easy for opponents to poke holes is as much a fact as respiration and digestion. I imagine without realizing it, ID proponents in evolution” — Michael Lynch Less widely appreciated is that evolution have become professional Doubting has long been the most quantitative field Thomases, funded by Doubting Thomas of biology, well grounded in the general Institutes. When advocates of ID use the of many scientists on matters of social and principles of transmission genetics. Yet few vocabulary of science to argue for God’s political concern. I recommend Huston students at university, and almost none at presence in cellular machinery or in the fossil Smith’s book Why Religion Matters high school, are exposed to the mathematical record, they too poke their fingers through (HarperSanFrancisco, 2002) for advice underpinnings of evolutionary theory. The Jesus’ hands. In so doing, ID vitiates faith. on how to handle the ID debate. teaching of evolution purely as history, with Not realizing this, many Christians now Rustum Roy little consideration given to the underlying believe they are making a stand against evil The Pennsylvania State University, 102 MRL, mechanisms, reinforces the false view that by supporting religion-infused alternatives to University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA evolution is one of the softer areas of science. evolution. For them, the fundamental debate Here is a missed opportunity. Our failure is not over which is wrong and which is right, ` to provide students with the mathematical but over which is good and which is bad, and skills necessary to compete in a technical the majority opinion is clear. So if we want Intelligent design or world is a major concern in the United States. to ensure the continued learning of evolution intellectual laziness? Mathematics becomes more digestible, and in our schools, we cannot only argue that even attractive, when students see its science and faith can be reconciled; we also SIR – Much of the concern over ID (Nature immediate application. What better place to have to show that ID actively undermines the 434,1053 and 1062–1065; 2005) has focused start than with the population-genetic theory basis of Christianity. on veiled attempts to inject religion into of evolution, much of which is couched in Douglas W. Yu public education. Sheltered within the algebraic terms accessible to school students? Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Conservation, confines of academia, most find it Michael Lynch School of Biological Sciences, University of hard to believe that the slain need to be slain Department of Biology, Indiana University, East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK again. Those in the trenches — school boards, Bloomington, Indiana 47405, USA school biology teachers and their national representatives — often don’t know how to respond, in part because they themselves Leave well alone and stick never really achieved a deep understanding Solidarity with the to teaching what you know of evolutionary biology at college. oppressed flat-Earthers However, there is a related and equally SIR – Your Editorial “Dealing with design” disturbing issue: the legitimization of SIR – I was disturbed by your News Feature (Nature434,1053; 2005) is another piece of intellectual laziness. Have a problem “Who has designs on your students’ minds?” evidence of the peculiar angst among certain explaining something? Forget about it: the (Nature434,1062–1065; 2005), in which the scientists about the ID strategy of a rather Designer made it that way. Any place for proponents of ID are mostly portrayed as robust fraction of the US population. On the diversity of opinion as to who/what the a persecuted minority. They are said to be basis of some decades of work in this area, I Designer is/was? The ID literature makes it afraid to reveal their identity and to be do not believe that your advice to those who very clear that there is no room for scientific frequently censured into silence by anti- feel so threatened is wise, for two reasons. discourse on that. Think I’m exaggerating? democratic scientists and administrators. There are some very skilled experts on the To get a good idea of what IDers would have Your reporter clearly does not realize that topic of how to deal with different cultures or the face of science look like, check out the ‘intelligent designers’ are not the only belief systems. Their advice, from experience, journal Perspectives on Science and Christian minority bullied into submission by the would be: leave well alone. Act like a scientist, Faith(www.asa3.org/ASA/PSCF.html). scientific establishment. The vast majority confident in your own — always tentative, Two factors have facilitated the promotion of flat-Earthers, tea-leaf readers, astrologers, always open to change — axioms and laws. of ID. First, IDers like to portray evolution geocentrists and phlogiston theorists cannot Read the literature, for God’s (or Darwin’s) as being built entirely on an edifice of publish their studies in respectable journals. sake. It will prove to you that even graduates darwinian natural selection. This caricature It is rumoured that Naturehas rejected of MIT and Harvard do not know simple of evolutionary biology is not too surprising. without review a study showing that storks scientific facts that are irrelevant to their Most molecular, cell and developmental bring babies into the world. I have even heard work, such as why the Earth experiences biologists subscribe to the same creed, as do of a physician who was fired from a university winter and summer, despite having been many popular science writers. However, it hospital for trying to cure his patients by explicitly taught such facts several times has long been known that purely selective altering the ratio of blood to yellow bile and during their education. This amazing arguments are inadequate to explain many phlegm to black bile. ignorance does not affect their performance aspects of biological diversity. Building a Thanks to your News Feature, I am now as scientists. I do not know a single materials straw man based on natural selection alone convinced that by replacing “small, medium scientist or engineer whose technical work makes it easy for opponents to poke holes in and large” with “tall, grande and venti” — as would be affected by their beliefs about evolution. But features of the , such in my local coffee-shop — the disreputable evolution/ID. My advice: relax. It can do very as genomic parasites or non-coding introns, theory of biblical creationism can be turned little harm. Ham-fisted efforts will simply which aren’t so evolutionarily favourable into a respectable scientific discipline called alienate much larger numbers of people from (nor obviously ‘intelligent’ innovations), can ‘intelligent design’. the rest of science. be more readily explained by models that Dan Graur As to the suggestion that scientists should include random genetic drift and mutation as Department of Biology and Biochemistry, “offer some constructive thoughts of their substantial evolutionary forces. University of Houston, Houston, own”: beware of the ignorance, nay illiteracy, Second, IDers like to portray evolution as Texas 77204-5001, USA

276 © 2005Nature PublishingGroup