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Calls for a legal ban on teaching certain ideas are often countered on the grounds that this is an admission of the paucity of effective rational counter-arguments. ("Why I believe debating science with creationists will not work", THES , March 29).

When Nasa scientists say the surface of Mars has been shaped by catastrophic floods, it is science. But if someone suggests that Earth experienced a catastrophic flood thousands of years ago, Ian Plimer says this is "a form of child abuse". If this is representative of the strength of scientific reasoning against teaching creationism, then perhaps it is no surprise to find Plimer and others having to resort to talk of legal bans.

Danny Crookes
School of Computer Science
Queen's University Belfast