Stepping around student religiosity In the not-too-distant past, I was teaching a course on cognition and language. One class focused on language and communication in different species. A student later emailed me to ask a number of clarifying and follow-up questions. One of which was "If God wanted animals to communicate, why wouldn't He just have them talk"? This student was an international student from a country where religion is a much more prominent component of public life, so - for lack of a better phrase - I took it as a good faith question that would have been pretty normal back home. I don't think it's my place to put forth my theological views, I don't teach anything close to religion/theology, so I answered the questions that I could and ignored the religious question. Is there a better way to have handled this?

Thanks
You were correct in not engaging in religious argument in an academic setting. But a valid answer, that is probably acceptable to most people, whatever their faith, is, "I don't know. Your question is outside the realm of science." 

If further asked, "What do you believe?", you can say that it is a private matter. 

Unfortunately too many religious discussions end up here.