Bush vs Evolution

Dear editor:

President Bush has weighed into the controversy of “Intelligent Design” vs. “Evolution.” He stated in answer to a Crawford, TX news question, "I think that part of education is to expose people to different schools of thought. You're asking me whether or not people ought to be exposed to different ideas, and the answer is yes." Brilliant.

It doesn’t seem to matter to Mr. Bush that Intelligent Design (ID) is theory with no scientific backing, and is based upon religious belief. Evolution (Darwin’s work) is proven scientific fact backed up with physical evidence as the basis of life on this planet, and is not just a “theory.” To compare the two is equivalent to comparing the “known fact” that two plus two is four, and not the competing “theory” held by some that two plus two in a “different school of thought,” is sixteen. Even a grammar school student understands that.

Theory and scientific fact are not comparative, at least until the theory is proven and becomes fact, and students should not have both presented as equals to confuse them. It is a shame that the President of the United States doesn’t (or doesn’t want to) understand this. Politics makes strange bedfellows.