Regarding Peter Milward's June 24 letter, "Cute description of creation": Milward clearly rates himself alongside the "true scientists" in history as opposed to ordinary scientists such as Richard Dawkins, who "merely looks at what he sees and verifies it in the material universe." There are objections to this facile stance. In the eras preceding the discovery of DNA and the realization of its fantastic power to explain the appearance of complexity from disorder, there was really no choice other than to believe that the hand of a creator must have been at work in creating the life and beauty we see around us.

Milward's blaring omission from his lineup of geniuses is Einstein, a man who talked about "god" as a metaphor for his awe at the beauty of physical reality but who certainly did not invoke any intelligent designer.

david coulson