I applaud The Tribune for its recent extensive coverage of evolution on Feb. 14, but some clarifications are warranted.

First, The Tribune perpetuates the erroneous claim that intelligent design is a "new, more rigorous critique of evolution" ("Can they both hold the truth?"). Instead, as the Kitzmiller v. Dover, Penn., trial convincingly demonstrated, intelligent design is just creationism repackaged; it is not science. In a failed attempt to skirt the law, the authors of the intelligent-design textbook Of Pandas and People had simply (and literally) replaced "creation" with "intelligent design."

Second, Sen. Chris Buttars' "divine design" terminology was not mistaken. The motivation behind his "origin of life" bill was unambiguously religious. Sen. Patrice Arent testified that Buttars tried (unsuccessfully) to persuade her to vote for his bill on the basis of religion. Similarly, Rep. LaVar Christensen publicly affirmed that he supported the bill because of his belief "in nature's God."

Third, The Tribune headlined evolution as "a theory still in controversy." Importantly, the controversy is a religious, not scientific, one. Current calls to "teach the controversy" in public science curricula are misleading and misdirected.

Gregory A. Clark

Salt Lake City