Sir, Richard Dawkins (letter, Aug 9) does himself a disservice by claiming that more than 50 per cent of believers in Britain are creationists. That’s not my experience, and I don’t live in Islington or Hampstead, or Oxford for that matter.

He also does himself a disservice by suggesting that “evolution = atheism” represents a “nuanced argument”. One of the tiresome things about Richard Dawkins is that he attempts to polarise the debate between “good science” and “bad religion”', and it’s this false dichotomy that I think Libby Purves was challenging. It’s perfectly possible for a scientist to be a believer, and for a believer to live happily with the theory of evolution.

It’s time that good scientists and sensible believers joined forces against bad science and bad religion, but I’m afraid that Richard Dawkins is part of the problem rather than part of the solution.

The Rev Dr Rob Kelsey
Alnwick, Northumberland

Sir, The exchange between Libby Purves (Comment, Aug 7) and Richard Dawkins raises two important points. First, we don’t actually know the level of creationist belief in Britain. Although Professor Dawkins suggests that “more than 40 per cent of the British population are creationists”, no source is provided for this statistic, and in any case my strong suspicion is that it’s misleading. The term “creationist” has many different meanings, so unless it’s defined carefully in polls, responses have little meaning. For example, Anglicans who declare the Apostle’s Creed — “I believe in God, Maker of Heaven and Earth” — are in a sense “creationists”, ie, they believe in God as creator, but equally ever since Darwin most Anglicans have had little problem with evolution. The term “Christian Darwinism” was in use by 1867.

Secondly, with Darwin’s double centenary in 2009 on its way (birth, 1809; On the Origin of Species. 1859), let’s hope that Darwin can be remembered as the superb biologist he was, not as an excuse for ideological disputes. We have to thank Libby Purves for seeking to deliver evolution from the clutches of the atheists at one extreme, and the fulminations of the creationists at the other. Let evolution be taught in the way that Darwin intended: as a great theory to explain the origins of biological diversity — without the ideological baggage.

Dr Denis Alexander
Director, The Faraday Institute
Cambridge

Sir, To judge from his shrill response to Libby Purves’s excellent critique, it appears safe to conclude that Richard Dawkins’s entrenched position is unlikely ever to evolve.

Richard Pask
Weymouth, Dorset

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