Court to rule on school board's attempt to put creationism in class

HARRISBURG - In what is being described as the most important "creationist" legal battle in 18 years, a Pennsylvania court is due to hear opening arguments in a school board's attempt to include "intelligent design" in the curriculum.

Last October, the small, rural school district of Dover became the first public school district in the US to include the "alternative" to Darwin's theory of evolution in its biology curriculum.

A four-paragraph statement read to students tells them that evolutionary theory "is not a fact" and "intelligent design is an explanation that differs from Darwin's view".

The statement then refers students to the pro-intelligent design textbook Of Pandas and People, available in high school libraries.

Intelligent design argues that living organisms are so complex that they must have been created by an unspecified divine being.

The elected school board members who support the change say students should learn about alternative "theories" to evolution.

After the board embraced creationism, 11 parents, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups, filed a suit against the district, arguing that the board was motivated by religion and was primarily trying to get God into science classes.

Almost 150 years after Charles Darwin caused outrage by publishing On the Origin of Species, the outcry - in America at least - has not gone away.

"Depending on how the judge rules, intelligent design could be dealt a lethal blow or it could pave the way for it to be taught in high school biology classes throughout the country," said Nick Matzke, a spokesman for the US National Centre for Science Education.

Not since Edwards vs Aguillard in 1987, in which the US Supreme Court struck down the teaching of "creation science", has there been such a challenge to the teaching of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection.

- INDEPENDENT