Student's perspective

[jeffrey shaw]

I have been a member of this listserv for about 18 months and I have never
had a reason to post before now. As a student of chemistry and engineering
(as well as possessing a deep love of nature and taxonomy), I have enjoyed
this forum tremendously. I am, however, dismayed at this recent creationism
vs. evolution banter.

As a student. I wish only to deal with FACTS. My first organic chemistry
professor was a soft-spoken man that shared with his class his deep respect
for the perfect order of all living things. In my own life, I have found
that this perfect order, the unviolatable principles upon which life is
founded, has been the catalyst for my belief in God. Even chaos itself has
order when expressed mathematically.

I am concerned that there are so few of you out there--this generation's
teachers and mentors--that find the existence of God to be so threatening to
the classroom. I do not think that all medical reasearch and your precious
grant money would come to a screaching halt if God turns out to be a
reality.

You are all deeply intelligent men, scientific to the core, and I have a
great respect for the scientific method and its approach to discerning the
world in which we live. But, I find it distracting that there are professors
that find it necessary to refer to a potential deity as a "malicious
creator" and a "myth." These sentiments do not embrace open-minded,
scientific processes of thought. These sentiments will show your classes
that you are just as narrow-minded as the clergy that you ridicule.

I hope that there is still room in our society for the unexplained and the
undiscovered. I hope that miracles can happen, and while I believe science
can solve many of the looming disasters of our time, I also believe that it
will only accomplish the impossible if it leaves room for the impossible. No
one knows how everything began. Yes, we are getting really good at seeing
how it evolves, how it changes over time, but the origin of our wonderful
little predicament may never be known. I hope that you will be able to deal
with that knowledge professionally.

...and, I will keep you in my prayers.

Jeff Shaw
student
Lower Columbia College
Longview, WA 98632

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