Editor:

People in our country who would have "creation science" taught in our schools are doing our society a great disservice. If they succeed in their efforts to masquerade religious ideas as "science" in our schools, this perversion of discipline could have profoundly negative repercussions for our children's education's and our society as a whole.

Fundamentalist Christians, including some in our own community, are mounting a highly organized effort on a national scale to have biblical teachings introduced into science classes under the guise of scientific theory. This effort is well funded, focused, persistent and dangerous. It fits into a broader anti-scientific, anti-intellectual campaign by those on the right who find our society's use, of science as a tool of public policy objectionable. On a broader scale, their effort is part of a right-wing effort to break down the constitutional separation of church and state in America.

This particular assault on science is more dangerous than others because it is a miseducation campaign that could confuse students and damage the intellectual capabilities of future generations.

So called "creation science" is not science at all. It is no more science than Bevis and Butthead of MTV are fine literature. Creation science is a fundamental perversion of scientific process, where theories and evidence are constructed to fit a predrawn conclusion (in this case a Bible story). True science is conducted by posing a question and seeking to answer the question through experimentation and peer review of reproducible results.

Rather than introduce this "theory" into the serious scientific community, its perpetrators instead seek to discredit the mainstream study of biology, geology, and biochemistry. By exaggerating minor questions remaining in the theory of evolution and claiming they are instead fatal flaws concealed by pandemic conspiracy, fundamentalist Christians divert our attention from the completely unscientific nature of their own "theory."

If the "creation science" account of the origin of life were taken seriously in the academic and professional scientific community, reams of reports pointing out its scientific incredibility would be available. But it is not a scientific concept in the normal sense of the word, so only a small cadre of right-wing workers have "studied" the idea in any detail.

If our students are to be confused by false science endorsed by the government in the classroom, future generations will not be intellectually equipped to deal with increasing problems humanity faces such as new epidemics of disease, complex technological challenges, and the need to better understand climatology and ecology. We cannot base the battle against disease or environmental destruction on religious studies.

For those who work with the. biological sciences and biochemistry professionally, the question of whether evolution is a faulty theory or is sound scientific principal was laid to rest long ago. Vast bodies of evidence and knowledge support the theory of evolution and the whole field of modern biology, including medical science, is based on work incorporating evolution.

I honor the Christian religion and those who practice it. I would work to protect their right to do so. But I resent the continued efforts to break down the organic separation of church and state in America, and the stealth efforts of the Christian right to foist a particular interpretation of the Bible onto our society, using the organs of government including our public schools. The attack on biology and the teaching of science is an element of this campaign which needs to be recognized for what it is -- an effort by a minority to control the religious and civic life of the majority.

Tom Ribe