The Education Board of US state Kansas on Tuesday adopted new science-curricula standards for the state's 445,000 public-school students that openly question the Evolution Theory of Charles Darwin.

The new standards, passed in a 6-4 vote after hours of sometimes hostile debate, are seen by most scientists and educators as a victory for creationism even though the regulations don't require that Bible teachings be presented, according to the CBS.

The newly approved regulations not only question the theory that all life has a common origin, they also rewrite the definition of science, holding that it is no longer limited to searching for natural explanations for natural phenomena.

Supporters of the new standards insist that their effort has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with Darwin, saying that science classes present Darwin's theories as fact when plenty of questions exist about his findings.

Those opposing the new standards, though, cast them as a backdoor effort by creationists to introduce religious expression into the public classroom, especially the doctrine of intelligent design.

This intelligent design doctrine maintains that those facets of natural science that remain unexplained by Darwin should be attributed to an anonymous intelligent agent.

Advocates of this "theory" argued that Darwin's theory on natural selection and the formation of new species are pockmarked with logical holes. They advanced an alternative premise that the world is owed to "a profoundly formative intervention."

The concept of intelligent design has gained popularity among those questioning Darwin's veracity.

According to the Discovery Institute, a Seattle-based think tank promoting the concept of intelligent design, four US states --Ohio, Pennsylvania, Minnesota and New Hampshire -- have preceded Kansas in requiring schools to present a critical analysis of evolution.

Kansas has over the years emerged as a key battleground in the debate. In 1999, a conservative faction on the State Board of Education managed to institute science standards that removed almost all references to evolution in the curriculum.

New standards, restoring evolution to its previous status, were adopted in 2001 when voters ousted the creationist bloc. But three years later an election gave conservatives the edge again.

Kansas isn't the only place where the Darwin debate is being waged. In Pennsylvania, the American Civil Liberties and 11 student parents sued the Dover Board of Education for requiring students be taught the intelligent design doctrine as an alternative to Darwinian theory.

After the debates closed last week, a federal judge in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, is set to adjudicate this case in December or next year.

Scientists and educators assert that evolution is more than a theory, and that the new standards in Kansas will prove an impediment to education.

"American children are consistently falling behind those of other nations in their knowledge and understanding of science," said Francisco Ayala, a biology professor at the University of California-Irvine. "We will not be able to close this gap if we substitute ideology for fact in our science classrooms."

Source: Xinhua