Ussher nonsense
From Mr Chris Wheal
Sir: Paul Johnson (And another thing, 16 February) wants another 'religious reawakening' in America. Bad idea. There are more than enough religious wackos running around this country as it is. It is a never-ending source of astonishment to me that, in a country that is one of the world leaders in science and technology, between 50 and 80 per cent (depending on which poll you read) of the population are creationists. A majority of them are young earth creationists, who go along with Bishop Ussher's nonsense about the earth (and the rest of the universe) being created in 4004 BC.
The malign influence of creationists on the content of textbooks has substantially dumbed down high-school natural science curricula, not just in the Bible Belt but in many other parts of the country as well, because publishers will not incur the expense of a two-tier system.
Chris Wheal
Hollywood, California, USA
Previous page
