CAMPAIGNERS against teaching creationism in schools scored a victory last week deep in America鈥檚 Bible Belt.
At a tense meeting of the , the board voted eight to seven to erase a seemingly innocuous phrase in the rulebook that allows teachers and students to debate the 鈥渟trengths and weaknesses鈥� of scientific theories. Since 1994 creationists have used this as a pretext to cast doubt on evolution in lessons and textbooks.
The supposed weaknesses are completely bogus, and removing the wording 鈥渋s a real victory鈥�, says Michael Zimmerman of Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, .
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Evolutionists will be hoping the board upholds the revision at a meeting in late March. If it does, textbooks will be free of the wording for the next 10 years.