Are only secular views permissible?

I wish to respond to Joe Bauer's April 24 letter to the editor.

He believes that "there is no God's plan" in the events of history. Where is the scientific evidence that all has its source in mindless, mechanical matter? I think he is appealing to a new deity called "Natural Law."

He writes, "Ask any secular scientist in the world, any at all, and he will tell you without a trace of doubt that evolution is no theory. It is a fact." It is interesting to note that you must ask a "secular scientist" - one that already excludes the possibility of a divine transcendent power. You must begin with the closed mind that says we must dispense with providential "design." We must start with a prejudice.

Is that being scientific? The thinking inside the box goes like this: Natural selection is the only mode for explaining origins. Period. If you don't believe that you have an "archaic view" that is either laughable or pitiful. Albert Einstein (a well known scientist) said: "Everyone who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the laws of the universe - a spirit vastly superior to that of man, and one in the face of which we with our modest powers must feel humble."

George Grinnell, professor of the History of Science, McMaster University said: "I have done a great deal of work on Darwin and can say with some assurance that Darwin did not derive his theory from nature but rather superimposed a certain philosophical worldview on nature and then spent 20 years trying to gather the facts to make it stick."

In other words, you must be a secularist and then try to prove your point. Only their views are permissible.

Elton Heimsoth

Lombard