Top-level rejection

The most senior cleric in the Anglican church has provided an unexpected boost to Britain's growing concern about the influence of anti-evolutionary beliefs by saying that he does not believe that creationism should be taught in schools. Giving his first, wide-ranging, interview to The Guardian newspaper, the archbishop, Rowan Williams, was emphatic in his criticism of creationism being taught in the classroom, as is already happening in two city academies founded by the evangelical businessman Peter Vardy and several other British schools, and much wider exposure looming. " I think creationism is… a kind of category mistake, as if the Bible were a theory like other theories… if creationism is presented as a stark alternative theory alongside other theories I think there's just been a jarring of categories… My worry is creationism can end up reducing the doctrine of creation rather than enhancing it, " he said. The debate over creationism or its more recent offshoot, so-called 'intelligent design', which argues that creation is so complex that an intelligent — religious — force must have directed it, is provoking divisions in Britain and raising fears that the situation there may become like that in the US where the debate is both vehement and politicised in many different states. There, under pressure from the religious right, some states are considering giving intelligent design equal prominence to Darwinism. Most scientists believe that intelligent design is little more than an attempt to smuggle fundamentalist Christianity into science teaching. States from Ohio to California are considering placing intelligent design on the curriculum, with President George Bush telling reporters last August that " both sides ought to be The Archbishop of Canterbury has announced his opposition to the teaching of creationism in schools. Nigel Williams reports. Times Education Supplement: " This opens a legitimate gate for the inclusion of creationism or intelligent design in science classes as if they were legitimate theories on a par with evolution fact and theory. " I'm happy for religious theories to be considered in religious education, but not in science where consideration could lead to a false verification of their status as being equal to scientific theories, " he said. There was surprise amongst some people at the archbishop's forthright comments, as his normal approach to views on key issues has caused him trouble with all wings of the Anglican Church, and frequently exasperated those Category shift: Creation shouldn't …