God save the school board

Apparently the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania school district is buckling under the pressure. The pressure from Christian fundamentalists, that is.

"The district is believed to be the only one in the nation to require students to hear about intelligent design -- a concept that holds that the universe is so complex, it had to be created by an unspecified guiding force." Full story

Now, me personally, I'm a religious person, like most Americans. Then why do I seem to have a problem with this? I think it's because, put simply, it's not science. Teaching intelligent design (which is really just a non-denominational version of Biblical creationism) in school, which is supposed to gurantee a seperation of church and state, seems kind of awkward and unnecessary. For one thing, it has no place in a science classroom. In a social studies classroom, yes, there is a lot to learn about American history that has to do with the conflicting beliefs of evolution and creationism. But to expect science teachers to present this to students is pretty ridiculous. This seems to be just another ploy by the Christian right to shelter their children (and most likely other peoples' children) from anything that might cause them to question their faith. If that is the case, then maybe it's time for them to get a new pastor, or a new faith, because obviously one of the two doesn't seem to have all the answers.