While agreeing with Ted Peters (“Intelligent Religion,” December 2005) that one can both embrace the science of Darwinian theory and be religious, I take exception to his assertion that “the scientific establishment tries to assert that to be religious is like having a disease that quarantines a person against participation in science.” I don’t believe there is any such ideology in the scientific community. As a scientist, I would ask for his evidence of such a position. Certainly there is not a rigid ideological position comparable to that of the fundamentalist Christian community, which demonizes Darwinism and the theory of evolution. There is no litmus test on “religious belief” for entering into scientific professions. In my years of experience in a major research university, the practice of religion was not suppressed and personal religious beliefs were not evaluated in relation to professional performance. The validity of religious beliefs is not a part of science because such beliefs cannot be tested by scientific methods.
Gail A. Bruder, Ph.D.
Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida
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