Letter writer Michael Walter has an excellent take on the creationism bill kicking around the Indiana General Assembly. He points to another embarrassing chapter in the legislature's history – its attempt to reset the value of pi – to remind us that lawmakers should leave math and science to the experts.

It turns out that the recalculation of pi was engineered by a timber merchant looking to bolster his profits. In the case of the creationism bill, it's purely conservative ideology at work. Coincidentally, Purdue University professors weighed in on both bills.

Walter writes that Clarence Waldo, a professor of mathematics, happened to be in Indianapolis in 1897 when the House passed the pi bill and sent it to the Senate.

"Horrified, Waldo assembled some senators and coached them on some mathematical facts of life," he writes. "Although the bill made it to the Senate floor, it was shelved on a motion to postpone it indefinitely, thanks largely to Waldo."

The brain trust that makes up the current Senate Education Committee, however, gave no such consideration to Purdue chemistry Professor John Staver, who testified that creationism is a religious view, not science. The members moved the creation bill along by a vote of 8-2, with only Democrats Earline Rogers and Tim Skinner voting no.

Fortunately, the bill was amended on the Senate floor to take creationism out of the science classroom. Unfortunately, it's still breathing. Read Sen. Vi Simpson's amusing account of her poison-pill effort on this Village Voice blog.

Regardless of the outcome of the legislation, it should give Indiana voters pause to know that the Senate Education Committee so eagerly supported a bill that would do great harm to Indiana schools and the state's reputation. Republican Sen. Luke Kenley, a Harvard-trained lawyer who is generally a voice of reason, should be ashamed for supporting the bill.