No room for 'true history' in science

SCMP Letters to the editor, June 28 2009

Gordon Arthur ("Cultures do have creation accounts", June 21) wrongly states that I begin with the bias that God does not exist therefore I am unscientific. I merely oppose mythical beliefs interfering in biology education.

The "Answers in Genesis" website recommended by Mr Arthur provides examples of distortions of science to fit the belief that the universe was created in six 24-hour days, 6,000 years ago: "Proof that the Earth is young is the clear teaching of the Bible, which cannot be wrong"; and "creationist geologists have made great progress in explaining the Earth's rocks and fossils because they start with the assumption that the biblical account is true history."

The "proof" of this "true history" are fragments of the Dead Sea scrolls, and a partial chapter in the 4th century Greek Codex Sinaiticus (a manuscript of the Greek Bible), with two conflicting versions of Genesis, voted into a Christian Bible in year 397.

The theology of creationism is fascinating, but it must be kept out of science education.

Ian J. Stones, Mid-Levels