Darwin's Beatles.

Anthony, Dennis

"Stop Imagining" by Jordan Michael Smith (Dec. 2010) looks like just another "youthful firebrand sees the light and becomes conservative" piece. But a little over halfway through the article Smith tosses a grenade into the reader's mind when he reveals that John Lennon rejected the theory of evolution while making clear the fact that Lennon was completely ignorant of what that theory actually says. Of course, for as long as we've known them, we have expected that kind of hippy-dippy silliness from the Beatles, but it seems a rather strange endorsement of conservatism. Unless, of course, we're promoting a kind of clown conservatism. Are we?

DENNIS ANTHONY

Visalia, Calif.

Jordan Michael Smith responds:

Dennis Anthony is correct to point out that John Lennon did not have an in-depth understanding of the theory of evolution. But in this ignorance, he was no different from many in the conservative movement. This may not be the mature conservatism of the sort Anthony likes--or one that TAC is usually associated with, for that matter--but there is no denying the power anti-evolutionists have in the modern right wing.