It is outrageous to read that state Board of Education Vice-Chairwoman Alisa Ellis thinks evolution is a science because it’s “politically expedient.” Do the board members backing her find atomic theory has nothing to teach about atoms, other than what’s in the Bible?

Every major, mid-level, or small university has natural sciences with evolution as a core content of their programs. All have experiments attempting to tease out even finer details of evolution, including as it applies to agriculture, immunology, genetics, genetic diseases ... (I cannot list all the applications), and also to increase scientific knowledge.

Worse than outrageous is the attempt to thwart the minds of our upcoming generations at a point where our nation, and the world, need well-educated scientists, not more religious theocracy. The Bible is not a science text; it is a book of faith. Board member Lisa Cummins finds evolution “contrary to our beliefs.” “Our”? Is the Board of Education a church calling?

Galileo was imprisoned in his home for life by the Catholic church for teaching a heliocentric solar system. Let us not return to the suppression of science in the 15th and 16th centuries or the collapse of science following the fall of Rome.