As a biochemistry student at UF, I found Zack Smith’s opinion column Monday disheartening.
I’m all for critical thinking.
Science is nothing without it, but millions of pieces of evidence overwhelmingly side with the theory of evolution.
You might as well have students critically analyze the round-earth theory.
That isn’t to say we understand every mechanism by which life changes, but injecting “God did it” into scientific study is not critical thinking.
It has always been proven wrong and usually halts true scientific discovery.
Funnily enough, two scientists that the writer mentioned in the column demonstrate this perfectly — Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein.
Isaac Newton was convinced that God kept the solar system from flying apart, and Einstein refused to accept quantum physics because, as he put it, “God does not play dice.”
In both cases, two of the greatest minds to ever live were wrong.
In both cases, their contributions to physics stopped once they stopped critically thinking and “co-mingled their scientific and religious beliefs.”
Galileo put it best: “I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.”
Editor's note: This letter refers to this column.
