Sir, Carol Stavris (Letters, August 30) is right to be concerned about the "Intelligent Design" message put forward by Capt Ray Charlton in your Christian Forum. To attribute the existence of something that science cannot yet fully explain, to the actions of an "Intelligent Designer" is to give up on the noble quest of science.

The beauty of nature does indeed inspire awe and wonder in believers such as myself, leading to a desire to worship the Creator who made it all - both simple and complex. Some of that sense of awe is captured in Isaiah 40:26 "Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name".

But this is a proclamation of God as Creator through that sense of awe and wonder, not a proof of God.

The watchmaker analogy is flawed for a much simpler reason than those given by Richard Dawkins. It is perfectly reasonable to infer a designer of a watch because we already know watchmakers exist. This is not the same as saying that the watch proves the watchmaker's existence.

By the same token, the complexity of DNA cannot be said to prove that God exists, though it gives the believer a sense of wonder at the created universe in which such amazing things can happen.

We should not allow "Intelligent Design" to be taught in science lessons. Darwin himself sometimes argued that the universe was the result of "designed laws". We should not give up searching for those laws by saying "God wrote the code", for they too, reveal the glory of God.

Dr Iain Strachan Rainbow Way Abingdon