I'd like to respond to Craig K. Svensson's article "A Creationist Responds" (The Scientist, January 26, 1987, p. 12). First, speaking as a scientist, it seems to me that the science curriculum taught in the public schools should be determined primarily on the basis of the science that practicing scientists are doing. A look at the scientific literature shows that this means evolution, not creationism. It's not even that mainstream scientists are, as is often suggested, closed to alternative ideas; it's that creationists' ideas are by and large not presented to the scientific community for critique and evaluation.
A study quoted in Science (vol. 228, p. 837, May 17, 1985) showed that only 18 of 135,000 manuscripts submitted to 1,000 science and technical journals over a three-year period dealt with creationism. All (save three that were still under review at the time of the study) were rejected...
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