According to CNN, the Cobb County School District in Georgia has OKed teaching creationism in High School science classes. The reason is the usual need for “balance” in the curriculum, and the claim that the theory of evolution is disputed by scientists:

“Evolution has not been proven,” said [parent Larry] Taylor, who joined the debate over what should be taught in Cobb schools after reading about the ACLU lawsuit. “There are a growing number of scientists who are skeptical about Darwinism.”

Of course, there are all kinds of disagreements about how evolution happened. Divine creation of life in a week is, alas, not a major competing theory. But in the interest of balance, I suggest all available creation myths be presented to Cobb County juniors as potential alternative theories. Good places to start are here, here, and here. (That last one is backed up by an enormous amount of textual and scriptual evidence.)

The board’s decision pleased Michael Gray, a Cobb high school junior.

“I had to do a term paper about evolution and there were just things that I could disprove or have alternate reasons for,” Gray told The Associated Press. “I want my brother and sister to be given the option and not told it’s the absolute truth.”

Better post that baby off to Nature, Mike. The real question is, what’s the phrase “absolute truth” doing in a high-school science class? Learning science means learning about the relationship between theory and evidence. Evolution is a theory that’s very, very well supported and also a terrifically productive guide to research. It doesn’t have plausible competitors. Its details will change as research proceeds, but of course that’s the whole point of science. Given the weight of the evidence so far, I don’t expect theories that require a God-premise to gain much new ground.

(Like Intelligent Design, for instance, which is mentioned in the CNN piece. The idea is superficially plausible: structures like the eye are so well-fitted to doing their job, they couldn’t possibly have evolved by chance, so they must have been designed by an intelligent being. Well, sounds plausible for eyes and opposable thumbs, but what about my lower back? Whoever came up with the Design Spec. for that one didn’t know what they were doing, let me tell you. And don’t even get me started on my digestive system.)