No intellectual progress

Your editorial of March 4 left me utterly flabbergasted. It tells me that intellectually humankind has not made any progress in ages.

A few hundred years ago, it was scientifically proven that our planet was round and not flat as previously believed and that it was not the center of the universe. The proponents of this scientific theory were outcast, burned, or lynched by the masses.

Science has progressed and we can now send satellites into the heavens and maybe save the earth one day when its existence is threatened by meteors. So much for doing something beneficial for mankind.

Who is serving the purpose of God's creation better, the scientists or the ignorant crowds? The less educated people in remote areas are still afraid of electricity. How do you dare to generalize so much in stating that scientists in the West do not care so much about morality; much less religion!

Maybe science in Indonesia is not well developed because of religious and political restriction. By the way, scientists do not create, they just duplicate the experiment of creation and try to find the laws by which it is governed.

I find your newspaper in general and the editorial very often lacking objectivity and straightforwardness. The people of Indonesia need good media, which will inform them so they will actively participate in the development of this beautiful and rich country.

RUDOLPH POLDERMAN

Jakarta