So the Scottish Secular Society (SSS) has called for a ban on teaching creationism as a scientific theory (No creationism in science class, News, May).
They are concerned that it may be mentioned in religious classes. In England, the teaching of creationism is prohibited in schools. They say we must catch up with England.
Research into the lives of the leading figures of the Scottish Enlightenment will show that nearly all of them were Christian (a notable exception, being David Hume). Not only were they Christian, they were profoundly Christian, being profound thinkers, and bible Christians at that. They were in fact creationists. Our own Hugh Miller (1802-1856), who knew a great deal more about evolution than Darwin did, crossed swords with Darwin with his book In The Footsteps Of The Creator.
James Clark Maxwell, of whom Einstein said that he only stood upon Maxwell's shoulders, was most certainly the greatest physicist who ever lived. To him and his practical experiments, his vision and his mathematics, we owe understanding of the field of electromagnetism - without him we would have no radio, no radar, no colour photography, no television and no computer technology. He too was a man of profound belief in God, according to his doctor, "a most perfect example of a Christian gentleman". When dying, Maxwell reflected: "What is done by what I call myself is, I feel, done by something greater than myself in me. The only desire which I can have is like David, to serve my own generation by the will of God, and then fall asleep."
Are no future generations of Scottish children to be allowed the knowledge or understanding of their ancestors? Probably not. The SSS are at work on our education system.
Lesley J Findlay
Fort Augustus
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article