Prometheus 6

Kansas education board downplays evolution
State school board OKs standards casting doubt on Darwin
MSNBC News Services
Updated: 8:34 p.m. ET Nov. 8, 2005

TOPEKA, Kan. - Risking [P6: Risking? There's no risk here...] the kind of nationwide ridicule it faced six years ago, the Kansas Board of Education approved new public-school science standards Tuesday that cast doubt on the theory of evolution.

The 6-4 vote was a victory for “intelligent design” advocates who helped draft the standards. Intelligent design holds that the universe is so complex that it must have been created by a higher power.

Critics of the new language charged that it was an attempt to inject God and creationism into public schools, in violation of the constitutional ban on state establishment of religion.

All six of those who voted for the new standards were Republicans. Two Republicans and two Democrats voted no.

“This is a sad day. We’re becoming a laughingstock of not only the nation [P6: If only that were true I'd be less concerned] , but of the world, and I hate that,” said board member Janet Waugh, a Kansas City Democrat.