Creationists Told To End School Campaign

A group of Christian academics promoting the Biblical story of creation in school science lessons have been told to end their campaign. In a letter, officials at the Department for Education and Skills told the group that creationism and its more recent off-shoot, intelligent design, have no place in the national curriculum and schools should refuse to use their teaching materials. The move comes amid growing debate over the use of religion to debate Darwin's theory of evolution in GCSE and A-level science. Truth in Science, which is funded and supported by prominent academics, teachers and clergymen, sent lesson plans to 5,700 state and private schools in September as part of a £20,000 campaign to promote alternative interpretations of the origins of life. The teaching packs - a booklet and two DVDs - ask schools to consider that certain features of the universe cannot be explained by natural selection, but are best explained as the work of an "intelligent designer".