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It is ironic that the attitude of some members of the Royal Society to Michael Reiss, its now former director of education, seems so unscientific ("Way beyond the act of creation", 2 April). When one examines the evidence, namely what Reiss actually said, rather than what some say he said, or what one imagines he might think because he is a priest, it is hard to conceive of a more commonsensical approach to the realities of teaching science in schools, given the range of views to which children are exposed. All that being said, theologians must take responsibility for clarifying a number of related issues: creationism and intelligent design are theological nonsense, and the God whom many members of the Royal Society reject is the one rejected by countless theologians and philosophers over thousands of years.

Simon Oliver, University of Wales, Lampeter.