From a Catholic God-fearing evolutionist who believes in intelligent
design (although probably not the official Intelligent Design) and who only
just got around to reading the last two weeks of Raven email:

Nothing could have been more apropos as a response to Faculty President
Richard Rice's comments on academic freedom than the long-running email
debate about creationism, evolution, and intelligent design.  Given the
intensity of emotion involved in the discussion, I was generally impressed
by the level of civility in the emails.  Not perfect, mind you, but not bad.

The one thing I REALLY wish some people would consider is that belief in
God and rational inquiry into the workings of the universe are not mutually
exclusive.

I also wish that those who restrict themselves to understandings obtained
only through rational inquiries and physical evidence avoid the sin of
arrogance toward those who take a different view.

And yes, there is a lot to be said for (a) becoming educated, (b) being
cautious about seeing patterns where we want to see patterns, and (c) being
aware that there is a lot we still don't know about the universe.  A
cautionary tale:  back in the late 19th century, some scientists thought
that they had discovered all the basic tenets of physics....

And how come the origins of Lookout Mountain became such a hot issue??!!


  Now I have to get back to work and write up the Senate minutes.  Yuck.

Dr. Betsy Darken
Professor
Department of Mathematics #6956
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
615 McCallie Ave
Chattanooga, TN  37403-2598

email:  [log in to unmask]         phone:  (423)
425-4580      fax:  (423) 425-4586