Letter to Editor

I wrote a short, I mean really short, little letter to the editor at the NY Times regarding Michael Kinsley's review of God is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens. Probably the kind of nit-picky little "correction" that would drive the author crazy, but I get that way sometimes.

I'm rather surprised that they e-mailed to say it will be published in the May 27th edition of the Book Review Section! I'll not reproduce it here, but I will come back and link to it when it's published next weekend.

As a public school science teacher I try not to have an opinion on religious matters and refuse to answer students' questions about my religious beliefs or lack thereof. I do occasionally hear grumblings among some students when we discuss topics that are at odds with one religious concept or another. As for religious explanations of natural phenomena, I stand firmly with the evidence and I don't mind making that point with students - if your religion says, for example, that the earth is less than 10,000 yrs old, that claim is demonstrably false. I don't push this idea on students, but as I have warned them, in my science classroom claims of fact, regardless of their source, will be subjected to scientific scrutiny. So if a student wants to argue against science by bringing in religious doctrine, I will engage, at least to a point. It doesn't happen often and I think most students are willing to close their ears when we discuss things they don't want to hear or compartmentalize their brains to learn the science, even if they reject it emotionally.

I would prefer that they do neither, but I don't know how to bring about a change in their mindset, other than discussing the science as matter-of-factly as possible and encouraging them to think generally in a logical manner.