Dear Editors,

I recently read Ahlaen Simic’s piece called “The God Dilemma,” and I felt rather strongly about it as I am one of the religious people you insulted. Therefore, I have a few things to say in response to your piece. I will try to deal with each issue separately and in a logical manner.

You say that religion spreads intolerance, yet you state that you will be deliberately insulting religious people. Do not hold us to a standard you do not keep.

I am curious if you have read the Old Testament yourself, or simply listened to Dawkins’ opinion on it. He has missed the entire premise, that since God exists, created the entire world, and has absolute sovereignty over said world, He can do anything He wants with it. If you do not believe those assumptions then the Old Testament seems exactly as Dawkins says. However, he never addressed whether or not God existed in that quote. He simply said if God does exist, then Dawkins would not like it. This is made very clear in Dawkins’ interview in the movie Expelled.

You state that religion perpetuates ignorance about medicine and the sciences. Since you do not seem to have studied the history of those two fields, I will give you a few names. Louis Pasteur was a noted Christian and the developer of the germ theory of disease. Issac Newton, though unorthodox, was a Christian. Robert Koch, a German scientist who discovered anthrax, was a Christian. Wilhelm Röntgen, the man who discovered x-rays, was a Christian. There are many more so the next time you make a claim like that, please back it up with some proof, or at least sound logic rather than asserting something that is blatantly false.

You state that evolution is a fact. That is quite true for certain definitions of evolution. If it is defined as species adaptation, Darwin proved that with his finches. As an explanation of where all life came from it falls short, most notably in explaining how to get past the massive mathematical requirement of modern cell theory. If you are familiar with limits from calculus, you should understand that the chance of random proteins forming into the extraordinarily complex nano factory of the modern cell approaches zero. Saying one species evolved into another is even more ridiculous.  In statistics we can only make predictions within the relevant range. Anything outside that is useless.

Finally, you say people do not get their morals from religion. I do. It is a conscious choice on my part. To say that this is a bad thing implies that you wish to take away my right to do so. Frankly, I find this limit on my freedom frightening and insulting. I am not a criminal who you can throw in jail for believing in a different set of ethics than you. For an example of what that kind of position does to a society I suggest you study history. The various Muslim nations and Nazi Germany make excellent case samples.

Spencer Rathbun
Computer Science junior