To the Editor:

Re “Believing Scripture but Playing by Science’s Rules” (front page, Feb. 12):

Marcus R. Ross, the “young earth creationist” who received a Ph.D. in geosciences from the University of Rhode Island, is certainly entitled to believe whatever he wants about the origins of the universe, even if his acceptance of the Genesis myth as historical fact puts him in a tiny minority in the scientific community.

What I find deeply disturbing, however, is that Mr. Ross could believe that the earth was created 10,000 years ago, but nevertheless write in his dissertation that mosasaurs, or marine reptiles, existed more than 65 million years ago. And the University of Rhode Island condoned this academic sleight-of-hand by conferring an advanced degree on him.

As a graduate of the University of Rhode Island, I would have expected that it require a student to display some basic level of intellectual and academic integrity before conferring a degree on him. John S. Foley

Tiverton, R.I., Feb. 12, 2007

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To the Editor:

Your headline, “Believing Scripture but Playing by Science’s Rules,” is problematic in that it suggests that one cannot believe in Scripture and play by science’s rules.