Pernicious nonsense of schools’ pseudo science

I WAS pleased to see your prominent article (Yorkshire Post, May 21) on the dangers of some “free” faith schools teaching pseudoscientific nonsense.

However, in the case of “young earth” creationism, there is worse – to distort teaching to support the idea that the universe is under 10,000 years old requires the denial of whole swathes of science – encompassing biology, geology, chemistry, physics and cosmology.

It is not so much pseudoscience as anti-science.

Incidentally, although Education Secretary Michael Gove has prohibited such teaching in free schools, he has failed to do so in academies.

Even within free schools proposals, we see those such as Sheffield’s Bethany School claiming that: “Our science curriculum will be broad and well-balanced, looking at the assumptions, evidence and interpretations behind scientific theories.”

This is a standard creationist tactic, from the United States, of claiming objectivity but focussing only on non-existent scientific “controversies” in subjects such as evolution which run counter to their fringe religious interpretations.

All done, of course, after a thorough indoctrination with the “creation story” as a “faith position”.

Parents who wish their children to have a proper education in science need to be vigilant and resist any encroachment into our schools by this pernicious nonsense.