To the Editor:
I really enjoyed how your argument successfully described human beings as Gods! Let me explain.

You presented several scientific facts that are written in the Quran, asking such questions as “Could anyone in seventh-century Arabia have known that our atmosphere is made up of seven layers?” You then go on to say that “The only answer to these questions is obvious: the Quran is the Word of God.” Excuse me? How does that follow?

Modern humans have, as you say, recently discovered all of these facts for themselves. Isn’t it much more plausible that these scientific truths came about from empirical observation (like modern man has done), rather than the “word of God”?

Do you really believe that the Quran must be the word of God because the book contains scientific facts that were seemingly unknowable at the time? I am sure there is more to it than that, but your argument implies we are all Gods as well.

Every day we are discovering new scientific truths that were seemingly unknowable many years ago. I don’t remember anyone referencing the word of God when we mapped the human genome — the building blocks of human life. If that’s not in the Quran, does that make modern humans smarter than God?

Mark Vanpee
Computer Science ’03

To the Editor:
While I appreciated what you were trying to accomplish with your letter, I’d like to steer it on a path that can be more easily digested by the Western population.

First off, we must refrain from calling people ignorant beings simply because they choose to attribute the creation of not just mankind, but of the entire world, to a complicated series of accidents. I too believe it is with great effort that people convince themselves that this world happened by mistake.

No matter how many questions are brought up against evolution or how much evidence clearly points to the existence of a supreme creator, science by its very definition cannot acknowledge it. Science only discusses and validates things which actually can be seen, studied, tested and examined.

If God were to make himself tangible to humanity so that science could study him, being human would lose its meaning. Allow me to explain. What elevates humans above all the pre-programmed, instinct-driven animals? It is the ability to choose to do as we wish. Life only becomes meaningful because of our human ability to choose. If God is so mighty and powerful, why does he allow evil to exist? For that matter, why didn’t he create everyone to be good? The answer lies in choice.

Evil exists because humans choose that path. Imagine if every bullet that someone shot missed its target. People would know that God existed, but this would defeat our ability to choose.

On a side note, I know which religion I believe to be true, but I don’t feel it’s necessary to proselytize, and I would ask that you, Hatem, follow suit. It isn’t important what name you give God — what’s important is how you live your life. In my religion, it is taught that the meaning of life is to live happily, and there is no easier way to achieve this than helping others.

For those of you who have become disenchanted at the hands of science, I implore you to seek the harder truth. Learn whichever religion interests you — it doesn’t matter what your parents taught you.

Remember, that which makes us human is our ability to choose. Choose to educate yourself, choose to do good for others, and choose a happy life.

Shaun M. Schwarz
MIT II