The heads of 10 University of Georgia departments sent this letter to Flagpole in response to Rep. Paul Broun's statements that evolution and the Big Bang are "lies straight from the pit of Hell," and the Earth is 9,000 years old:

In the past 72 hours much has been written about Representative Paul Broun's remarks regarding the age of the Earth, the origin of the universe and the validity of biological evolution. In response to those remarks the department heads of the science departments at the University of Georgia would like to make the following statement:

In videotaped remarks released last week, Rep. Paul Broun (GA 10th District) said, "All that stuff I was taught about evolution and embryology and Big Bang theory, all that is lies straight from the pit of hell. And it´s lies to try to keep me and all the folks who are taught that from understanding that they need a savior."

As faculty members in the sciences at his alma mater, we want to assure Rep. Broun and the citizens of Georgia that we are committed to communicating scientific ideas to our students without prejudice to their personal beliefs. The information taught in our classrooms comes from well-established, replicated data, the scientific literature and years of experience as practicing scientists and educators. We also want to assure Rep. Broun and the citizens of Georgia that our motives in teaching scientific principles are to give our students the facts to make well-informed decisions about the science and technology that shapes so much of their lives, to prepare them for well-paying jobs in the robust science and technology sectors of our economy, and to allow them to participate in future scientific discoveries. Part of our mission at the University of Georgia is to "inquire into the nature of things." It is a mission we science faculty take seriously and that we are proud to pass on to our students.

The letter is signed by Mark Farmer (Biological Sciences), Michelle Momany (Plant Biology), Jon Amster (Chemistry), Brian Binder (Marine Sciences), Stephen Hajduk (Biochemistry and Molecular Biology), William Dennis (Physics and Astronomy), Russell Malmberg (Associate Dean, Franklin College), Allen Moore (Genetics), Tim Hoover (Microbiology) and Doug Crowe (Geology).