To the Editor:
Schmalzbach ("Liberals in Cobb County," Feb. 15) asserts that the disclaimer in Cobb County's biology textbooks put liberals "in a bind." According to Schmalzbach, this "bind" arises because the stickers' message ends on the words: "Material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully, and critically considered."
Schmalzbach seems to accept the fact that part of the disclaimer was suspect: if the entire disclaimer had simply been, "evolution is a theory, not a fact," then, as Schmalzbach writes, "this would be a short column." I will not argue here about what exactly is wrong with this part of the message because Schmalzbach appears to agree with the court on at least this much.
However, Schmalzbach points out, apart from the anti-evolutionary sentiment of the stickers, they also included some liberal words of wisdom.
One would think it obvious that tacking on a sound piece of advice to a distortion of science does not make that distortion any less perverse. To demonstrate this point through extremity, consider the following recommendation: "Kill gays. Uphold America." If one opposes this sentiment, is one therefore unpatriotic? No. One is not.
Perhaps Brian Schmalzbach would like to explain, if he still thinks that these stickers were not supporting a "theocratic style of government," why they were pushed for so forcefully by a group of zealous, concerned Christians.
Michael Bosworth '07Feb. 16
