Courts have been clear that introducing creationism into the public school curriculum is unconstitutional, but that has yet to slow down a bill in the Indiana legislature that would authorize a course on theories on the origin of life. The State Senate voted 28-22 in favor of the legislation yesterday, and as Religion Clause points out, even Intelligent Design advocates aren’t happy with the approach.
“Instead of injecting religion into biology classes, legislators should be working to promote the inclusion of more science,” said Joshua Youngkin, a law and policy analyst at Discovery Institute’s Center for Science & Culture. “There are plenty of scientific criticisms of Darwin’s theory today, and science students should be able to hear about them, not about religion.”
This is at least a creative approach, using a comparative religion framework as an avenue to discuss the origin of life from a religious perspective. But is it not just one more effort to introduce material courts have said are better left to homes and houses of worship?
